BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fyber (FSE: FBEN), a leading advertising technology company, today announced the results for the first quarter of 2018, reporting a challenging start in the fiscal year with a decline in revenues but an improved EBITDA. Gross revenue showed a shortfall by 41% to €29.3 million (Q1 2017: €49.7 million). Net revenue margin increased to 34.8% (Q1 2017: 29.4%), resulting in a slower decline of net revenue by 30% to €10 million (Q1 2017: €14.6 million). The EBITDA improved to €-4.0 million (Q1 2017: €-5.1 million).
The revenue decrease can be attributed to three main developments. First, Fyber’s strategic decision to close down several traffic sources, as part of the ‘Keeping it Clean’ initiative launched last year has had a short-term adverse effect on revenue. Furthermore, Google’s ban of the charging screen ads format, previously a highly popular ad format especially in China, impacted the high growth anticipated in this region. Finally, the reorganization and merging of Fyber’s sales structure focusing heavily on training, account transitions and alignment reduced the output of the sales teams.
Fyber CEO Ziv Elul, commented: “2018 will be a year of investment and setting ourselves up for future wins. Our merger efforts thus far have been a success. We are confident in our strategy to lead with technology, and continue to push towards a clean, fair and transparent ad marketplace. While this strategy has an impact on the short-term revenue growth, we strongly believe the investment will pay off. We knew that the first quarter would be challenging, especially with the continued merger efforts both on the business and technology side. But with our achievements in innovation such as the new Fyber FairBid technology, our Video Ad Monetization Platform (VAMP) and the unified product, we trust in our ability to deliver concrete business wins and stronger financial performance.”
Positive outlook
Fyber’s clear focus for the remainder of the year will be on further enhancing the Company’s product offering, completing the integration of the four group companies, and expanding the network of partners using Fyber’s proprietary header bidding solution ‘Fyber FairBid’. FairBid’s beta was launched in February, offering app developers the world’s first and only technology to create a true state of header bidding for the mobile app environment. The Company has already signed strategic partnerships with AdColony and Tapjoy and expects to add more top players to this list in the near future. Later in 2018 Fyber plans to launch its unified platform, offering even more innovative monetization tools to our clients, and strengthen Fyber’s position and as true technological leader.
Despite a challenging first quarter, management is confident in Fyber’s growth strategy, innovative power and competitive position, especially considering the digital advertising business is a seasonal one, with the majority of sales generated in the second half of the year.
The complete interim report is available on the Fyber website at: https://investors.fyber.com/reports-presentations
Key Figures
| Q1 | Change | Full year | ||||||
| In € million | 2018 | 2017 | 2017 YoY | 2017 | ||||
| Gross revenue | 29.3 | 49.7 | -41% | 229.8 | ||||
| Net revenue | 10.2 | 14.6 | -30% | 69.9 | ||||
| Net revenue margin | 34.8% | 29.4% | 5.4pp | 30.4% | ||||
| EBITDA* | -4.0 | -5.1 | 22% | -1.2 | ||||
*Note: Adjusted to eliminate one-off impacts such as acquisition-related costs and option plans
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About Fyber
Fyber is a leading advertising technology company, developing a next generation platform for the programmatic trading of ads, in a data-driven environment. Our mission is to fuel the creation of quality content by empowering digital publishers and app developers to unlock the true value of their advertising properties through advanced technologies, innovative ad formats and data-driven decision-making. Fyber’s technology platform provides an open-access platform for both digital advertisers and publishers, enabling cross-device advertising with a global reach of more than 1.2 billion unique monthly users. Fyber has offices in Berlin, Tel Aviv, New York, San Francisco, London and Beijing. The Company employs more than 300 people globally and is listed on the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘FBEN’ and the ISIN NL0012377394.
