(Boursier.com) — Alchemy publishes its 2021 annual results and
confirms its 2022 objectives. As announced on the occasion of the publication of the 2021 turnover, the Group’s consolidated annual turnover (IFRS) stood at €32.2 million at December 31, 2021, an increase of + 11% compared to December 31, 2020. Video activity (€29.5 million) posted an annual growth rate of +17%. This increase results from the launch of more than 60 new channels in 2021, bringing Alchimie’s offer to 130 channels co-published with Personalities and Talents.
Despite the growth in revenues, the established distribution partnerships proved to be less buoyant than anticipated. As a result, the number of subscribers during the past financial year shows a less significant increase than expected (+13%).
In 2021, the cost of sales increased and stood at 15.6 ME; despite this increase, the Group’s gross margin stands at 51%, up +9.4%.
Operating expenses rose slightly (+5.8%), including both technology and development costs (+25.4%), Marketing and sales (+6.5%). The increase in technological and development costs results from the temporary reinforcement of the teams to develop the new functionalities of the Alchimie Studio platform, while the increase in marketing and sales costs follows the sizing of the teams to strengthen the distribution network in France and internationally. For their part, general and administrative expenses fell by 8.4% mainly due to the non-recurrence of legal costs related to the IPO incurred in 2020.
The operating loss is stable, around -8.58 ME compared to -8.62 ME in 2020.
The financial result reached -0.17 ME at December 31, 2021, compared to -0.56 ME in 2020.
In total, the consolidated net loss for the 2021 financial year is 9 ME, compared to 8.6 ME in 2020.
Group financial situation
Consolidated shareholders’ equity is in deficit and amounts to -0.8 ME at December 31, 2021. This decrease, of around 9.1 ME, results from the 2021 consolidated net loss of 9 ME. The cash position at the end of December 2021 stands at €7.1 million in 2021, compared to €15 million at December 31, 2020.
Borrowings and financial debts amounted to 8.5 ME for the 2021 financial year, i.e. a decrease of around 1.4 ME following the early repayment of the senior debt for 1.8 ME.
Significant post-closing event
The Company has a historic contract with the mobile operator Orange to supply a turnkey service. The renewal of this contract for the 2022 financial year has been confirmed, with a closure of the service scheduled for January 2023 due to the redefinition of the portal’s offers. The service had 140,000 video service subscribers as of December 31, 2021, contributing €4.2 million to 2021 revenue.
Strategy and outlook
The 2021 financial year was marked by numerous operational advances in terms of technology, marketing and editorial. Nevertheless, the limited growth in the number of subscribers during the past financial year requires that Alchimie’s strategy be adapted to optimize its cost structure and its cash flow. The management of the Company is now focused on achieving profitability rather than an objective of growing the subscriber base. This adaptation of the model thus makes it possible to concentrate the Company’s resources on its profitable assets.
2022 marks a strategic reorientation of the Alchemy model around three major axes:
-The development of thematic channels serving brands and key accounts,
– The optimization of resources via in particular the reorganization of the structure and,
– The pursuit of profitable growth materialized by the achievement of operational profitability.
In terms of commercial development, Alchimie is continuing to distribute high-potential channels to serve its subscribers and is also diversifying its activity. The Company has thus recorded a first contract to publish the content of a third party, acting as a service provider. In addition, to develop the channel publishing offer for companies, Alchimie has strengthened its team and recruited an experienced profile dedicated to this activity.
At the operational level, the Company is now focusing on markets where it believes it has the greatest potential for profitable growth, such as France and Spain. Thus, it no longer has local teams in the US or the UK.
In France, the reorganization plan presented on February 10 is now executed and entirely financed by the Company’s resources, opening a new phase of business development. At the financial level, as announced in February, the management of the Company is resolutely focused on achieving operational profitability from the first quarter of 2022 and for the whole of 2022. The strategic adaptations made allow Alchimie to lower its point dead to a turnover of more than 20 MEUR for the year 2022 and to implement the new strategy which should enable a return to growth.
In terms of financial resources, Alchimie maintains a rigorous management of its costs to preserve its cash and does not plan to call on the market given its cash position of 7 ME at the end of December 2021.
Pauline Grimaldi d’Esdra, Managing Director of Alchimie said: “Fiscal year 2021 was an eventful year for Alchimie following a health accident of its founder, Nicolas d’Hueppe, who left business of the Company. My arrival at the end of last year aims to reorganize the Company with an adaptation of its model aimed at healthy and profitable growth. Four months after my appointment, the strategic orientations validated by the Board of Directors have been implemented and Alchimie is now on track to achieve its 2022 targets.”
Next General Meeting: June 8, 2022, the terms of participation will be communicated later.
Next financial publication: H1 2022 revenue, July 19, 2022 after market close.