YOLO directors upbeat after tough year for its investments
By Josh White
Date: Wednesday 20 Mar 2019
(Sharecast News) - YOLO Leisure and Technology reported swung to unrealised losses on its investments for the 2018 financial year, it announced on Wednesday, with losses totalling £0.84m, compared to gains of £0.66m in 2017.
The AIM-traded firm said its total comprehensive expenses for the year ended 30 September 2018 were £1.11m, compared to income of £0.73m in the prior comparative period.
It noted that it had consolidated and subdivided its share capital into one new ordinary share of 0.01p each and one new A deferred share of 9.99p each in exchange for every 10 existing ordinary shares of 1p each.
Following completion of the share capital reorganisation, the total issued ordinary share capital of the company was 44,132,276 new 0.01p ordinary shares.
Realised gains on the disposal of investments was nil for the year, compared to £0.27m, with gross assets falling to £3.44m at year-end, from £4.56m a year earlier.
Net fair value investments held was said to be £3.08m, slipping from £3.88m, while total net assets were £3.41m - down from £4.51m - which represented 7.72p per share, compared to 10.23p a year earlier.
Cash in bank at year-end was £0.27m, sliding from £0.62m year-on-year.
Looking at its investments, YOLO said the TVPlayer platform continued to grow and attract new investment.
It had more than 3.2 million users and 50,000 paying subscribers, and in January 2018, it raised £1.24m in convertible loan notes from A&E Networks - of which YOLO took up £50,000 - and a further £2m in November 2018 from AMC Networks.
Due to economic uncertainty, the board noted that further funding was proving difficult, with the company said to be exploring all options including a trade sale or a listing.
Simplestream continued to grow steadily, with services now being delivered in the US, Africa and the Far East.
New partners signed up during the year include Icelandic telco NOVA, and North America-based production company Blue Ant Media.
In November, the company launched its new sports video platform with AVOD/SVOD and PPV models out of the box, which YOLO said would enable any league, channel or federation to generate revenue.
Finally, Magic Media Works developed and test launched its new television infomercial shows across mainstream networks in the UK and the US during the year, in partnership with specialist infomercial content providers, to enable a scaling of the business in those markets, the board explained.
Since the period ended, Magic Media Works completed a further fundraise of £0.9m on 5 December, to enable it to launch its Christmas television campaign for the 'ROXI' home music entertainment product.
The largest investor in the round was private investor and Saracens Rugby Club owner Nigel Wray, who was also the largest investor in YOLO.
Magic Media´s founder and CEO Rob Lewis, former Pandora Jewellery CFO Henrik Holmark, and Endeavour Ventures also participated directly in the round.
On 5 February, YOLO successfully raised £0.3m before costs via a placing of 8,000,000 new ordinary shares with new and existing investors at an issue price of 3.75p per share.
The company said that on the same date, it invested £0.1m in Sparkledun, in equity, to acquire 3.41% of its issued share capital.
Sparkledun, through its trading subsidiary Fast to Fibre, held the rights to exploit and further develop a technology solution utilising a unique patented process for the extraction of the inner core of telecoms and power cables, allowing the insertion of fibre optic without the need for excavation or other disruptive techniques.
"Throughout the past year we continued to work in active and collaborative partnership with our investee company founders and other board members to deliver and fulfil their business plans and visions," said YOLO chief executive officer Simon Robinson.
"We are focusing on early stage investments where we can use our board's experience and connections to accelerate the growth of investee companies, so that they have the potential to list on a public market as a possible alternative to future venture capital investment."
Robinson said the firm would continue to "actively explore" the most innovative and creative strategies to optimise value for shareholders through its status as an AIM investment vehicle.
"We will continue to support our portfolio of entrepreneurial technology businesses, whilst actively pursuing new and exciting opportunities.
"We would like to thank our shareholders and advisors for continuing to show support in the board and its vision."
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