Video search and ads outfit Blinkx is issuing shares worth £5 million ($8.1 million), or 10 percent of the company, after losses grew again on infrastructure deployment.
Though May-to-September (H1) sales more than doubled (to $13 million), cash burn nearly did, too (to $8 million), and losses for the period also doubled (to $6.9 million).
Blinkx isn’t having many problems finding clients and partners – seemingly every week, since it was floated off from Autonomy in 2009, Blinkx has announced new video content and ad powering deals, and has increased its ad prices during the downturn.
But, CEO Suranga Chandratillake said, it also “deployed significant infrastructure investments early in the period”; that was the likely drain. From the share placing statement: ” Despite being fully funded, the placing will provide capital to allow Blinkx to seize growth opportunities that will arise as the economy recovers.”
Autonomy is underwriting the placement, which will be made in London, where Blinkx is listed. And Chandratillake is optimistic, talking about “a high-velocity upturn in advertising … we are ready to ride the wave of the imminent upturn”.
The company aggregates partners’ videos on its own site and white-label search delivered to destination clients, and it serves ads against them using its AdHoc technology.
Earnings highlights…
— Gross profit up 88 percent to $8.48 million, beating analyst forecasts.
— Daily video searches up 249 percent to 17.4 million. UK and US video streams up 177 percent (comScore).
— Served 238 percent more ad campaigns that last year.
— Added 140 more video content partners, up to 650.