LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Video and connected television (CTV) advertising technology specialist Tremor International reported a second quarter contribution excluding traffic acquisition costs (ex-TAC) of $80.2m in its interim results on Thursday - a 13% rise from $70.8m in the same period last year.
The AIM-traded firm said its contribution ex-TAC for the first half totalled $147.1m, up 4% year-on-year.

Its results also showed robust growth in programmatic revenue, with the second quarter figure coming in at $76.3m - a 26% increase on the year.

Total programmatic revenue for the first half reached $138.8m, up 16% from the $119.8m it recorded in the same period last year.

Tremor's CTV market share expanded, generating revenues of $24.7m for the second quarter and $45.9m for the first half, making for year-on-year increments of 5% and 17%, respectively.

It said the contribution of CTV to programmatic revenue was 32% for the second quarter and 33% for the first half, while programmatic revenue accounted for a vast majority - 91% for the second quarter and 89% for the first half.

Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter showed significant improvement, standing at $21m - up 137% over the first three months of the year.

While it rose from the prior quarter, it still fell short of the $39.1m in the second quarter of last year.

First-half adjusted EBITDA meanwhile came in at $29.9m, down from $77.8m a year earlier.

In terms of video revenue, Tremor said it contributed 71% in the second quarter and 73% in the first half.

That, the board said, was expected to grow as the company capitalised on opportunities from the Amobee integration.

Finally, at period-end on 30 June, Tremor reported net cash of $94.2m, including cash equivalents of $195m, balanced by $100m of principal long-term debt, $0.8m from capital leases, and an untouched $80m from its revolving credit line.

With a solid liquidity position, Tremor said it intended to further its strategic plans, including prospective share buybacks and acquisitions.

"We were incredibly pleased to achieve our goal of efficiently completing the integration of Amobee, which featured a tech-rich platform and much larger employee base than Tremor at the acquisition's close, and to have met our total annualised operating cost synergy target," said chief executive officer Ofer Druker.

"We accomplished these goals while doubling our Adjusted EBITDA margin quarter-over-quarter during the second quarter, underscoring the efficiency of our horizontal operating model and proven track record of successfully integrating large-scale acquisitions.

"We believe we possess one of the most comprehensive and scaled CTV- and video-focussed AdTech platforms in the open internet, boasting differentiated and exclusive data, planning, activation, targeting, and measurement solutions."

Druker said that, while the company remained excited for the future and was confident its connected TV-related investments would pay off over the long term, accelerated revenue growth had taken longer than initially anticipated.

"We believe macroeconomic uncertainty is impacting major advertisers' and agencies' budgets and willingness to spend during the second half, particularly in managed service campaigns, which we believe will also drive cautiousness in willingness to adopt new products and platforms over the period.

"We are also experiencing longer, and more complex, sales cycles related to our strategic focus on driving larger enterprise deals with major advertisers, agencies, and CTV players, while our enhanced focus on driving growth in our core programmatic and enterprise businesses has contributed to a changed revenue mix shift and lower overall take rates for the company.

"We believe impacts from these combined factors will alleviate over time and that we will be better positioned than ever for success, and growth within CTV, when budgets expand and the spending environment improves."

At 1522 BST, shares in Tremor International were down 30.31% at 177p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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