oOh!Media has reported a strong boost in earnings in its financial results for the end of 2021.
The company noted significant operating leverage to grow earnings faster than revenue which resulted in a 24% increase in Underlying EBITDA despite lower rent abatements and no Government wage subsidies in 2021.
oOh!Media Limited leveraged the continuing recovery of out-of-home audiences throughout the year to deliver an 18% lift in revenue to $504 million, in contrast to the figures in 2020.
See more: oOh!Media Limited reports 24% earnings boost for the end of 2021
Mediaweek Spoke with Cathy O’Connor, chief executive officer of oOh!Media, about what this result means for the company and the future of the outdoor sector.
When asked about the positive financial report, O’Connor said that it was the result of audiences recovering.
“It has been well reported about 2021 being a period of prolonged lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria and as we have demonstrated throughout 2021, audiences really respond very quickly once things recover,” said O’Connor. “So our result is a byproduct of the freeing up of audiences, right through particularly in Q4. November and December were particularly strong months for the sector. We’ve seen our main formats of road, retail, and street furniture really rebound ahead of the rest of the business, and our New Zealand business would be part of that as well. That is a substantial part of the assets that we do have and we’ve really seen those formats, particularly roads, have record levels of revenue in November and December, and in retails case, record revenues in December. So pushing past the results of 2019 in the pre-COVID era.”
When asked what her message was to shareholders, O’Connor said that it was about the health of the sector.
“oOH!media’s scale and breadth of audience has benefited well from the recovery of audiences and the margin expansion that we’ve seen with EBITDA growing at a faster rate than our revenue does speak to the operating leverage in the business. And this all fits very well in an environment where we’re going to continue to see revenues recover.”
This is the first financial report since oOh!Media sold Junkee Media late last year. O’Connor said that it was a good result for all involved.
“We made the decision in focusing purely on out-of-home and to divest any of our assets that were non-core. So we’re pleased that we were able to divest Junkee and the business that acquired Junkee is a content business and we feel that for what Junkee’s digital publishing needed to achieve that it was a really great outcome for the business.”
When asked about the future, O’Connor said that it is about optimising their outdoor assets and continuing to focus on the core business.
“We’ll continue to improve our network of assets right across the spectrum. Further digitalization in key and high profile locations. Continuing to work with customers on making it easy to plan and buy. Continuing to promote the sector and all the improvements that the whole out-of-home industry has made to its measurements and standardisation of how the industry support themselves.”
NOTE: This author owns shares in oOh!Media Limited