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CLIQ Digital starts 2022 with significant increase in members and sales

  • Number of members grew in 1Q 2022 by more than 170k to 1.5 million
  • Sales grew by 75% and EBITDA increased by 56%
  • Profit for 1Q 2022 was up 68% to €5.8 million and EPS increased to €0.90, up 76%
  • Strategic update on 15 June

DÜSSELDORF, 3 May 2022 – CLIQ Digital AG today publishes its first quarter 2022 unaudited financial report.

Performance

  • Sales: In 1Q 2022, sales grew significantly by 75% to €52.6 million (PY: €30.1 million) and were mainly driven by increased performance marketing campaigns promoting multi-content portals.

    The sales growth was reported in all regions, whereby European sales grew by 71% mainly driven again by the fundamental shift from media buying via affiliate partners to CLIQ Digital’s own, in-house media buying team.

    in millions of €

    1Q
    2022

    1Q
    2021

    Change

    Sales

    52.6

    30.1

    75%

    North America

    28.3

    15.0

    89%

    Europe

    21.2

    12.4

    71%

    ROW

    3.1

    2.7

    16%



    Sales growth by service was highest in multi-content portal sales due to the significant increase in and improvement of the licenced content across nearly all categories.

    in millions of €

    1Q
    2022

    1Q
    2021

    Change

    Sales

    52.6

    30.1

    75%

    Multi-content

    42.9

    19.9

    115%

    Single-content

    7.1

    8.5

    -17%

    Ad-funded digital marketing services

    2.7

    1.7

    60%

  • Margin: In 1Q 2022, EBITDA increased by 56% to €8.3 million (PY: €5.3 million) with an EBITDA margin of 15.8% (PY: 17.6%), reflecting higher investments into marketing and content to drive member growth.

  • Earnings per share: For 1Q, basic EPS grew by 76% to €0.90 (PY: €0.51) on the back of a profit of €5.8 million (PY: €3.3 million).

  • Cash flow: In 1Q 2022, operating free cash flow came in at €0.2 million (PY: €5.1 million) due to the greater marketing spend.
  • Marketing spend: In 1Q 2022, the marketing spend increased considerably by 147% to €22.5 million (PY: €9.1 million) due to increased advertising volume and slightly higher advertising prices. The proportion of own media buying grew to 88% compared to 72% in 2021.

Operating review

  • Members: The number of paid members for multi- and single content offerings increased per 31/03/2022 by 13% to 1.5 million (31/12/2021: 1.3 million) driven by the increase in successful marketing campaigns and the attractive content, which is also more appealing to families. The expected average lifetime value of a member for multi- and single content offerings amounted to €71.27 during the quarter (4Q 2021: €69.81).

  • Lifetime Value of Customer Base: The Lifetime Value of Customer Base (LTVCB) came in at €104 million (31/12/2021: €87 million) at the end of March 2022. The LTVCB is calculated by multiplying the number of members by their individual remaining lifetime value and represents the total sales that is expected to be generated by the existing member base.

  • Profitability Index: CLIQ Digital’s six months’ Profitability Index for the first three months 2022 was 1.48x, compared to 1.56x in 2021. The year-on-year decrease was related to a general increase in the cost per acquisition across all regions and only slightly lower than the full year guidance 2022.

Strategic updates

  • Content: In February, CLIQ Digital licenced 14 new complete series from Palatin Media for its German and Austrian portals. These premium series add more than 400 hours of high-quality entertainment across all genres. In addition, CLIQ signed a new deal in March with LEONINE Studios for major Hollywood movies and series. CLIQ Digital’s Movies & Series category in the DACH region will be significantly upgraded with over 200 hours of additional high-quality content licenced from LEONINE Studios in Munich. This includes highly popular and highly ranked movies with Academy Award-winning and world-famous actors and directors as well as gripping international and domestic series.

  • Strategy outlook: At a virtual event on Wednesday 15 June 2022, Management will update the capital market and showcase CLIQ Digital’s upscaled German multi-content portal with its many new features and content highlights as well as give insight into the brand marketing campaign.

Management statement

“2022 has kicked off to a great start and our increased marketing converted into impressive growth in sales and members,” said Ben Bos, member of the Management Board. “We are pleased to announce that our customer base has grown by more than 170,000 against prior year-end close to 1.5 million members and sales growth has further accelerated to 75% year-on-year. All in all, we are very well on track to meet our FY 2022 guidance.”

Earnings call

A live video conference call and webcast will be held for investors and analysts at 10.00 a.m. CEST today and conducted in English by Ben Bos.

To attend the conference call and ask questions during the live question and answer session, prior registration of contact details is required at

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcuChqDsvGNcHK7owSTPIXnZUIiLJgs-p.

A recording of the webcast will be available after the call at: https://cliqdigital.com/investors/financials.

Documents

investors@cliqdigital.ag