Time Out Group PLC on Wednesday completed the share placing it announced at the start of the day, raising slightly more than expected, as it also reported a narrowed annual loss.

The London-based media and hospitality company said its pretax loss for the financial year that ended June 30 narrowed to £8.5 million from £25.0 million the year before. This was despite revenue falling 1.4% to £103.1 million from £104.6 million.

The narrowed loss was driven primarily by cost of sales falling 10% to £38.4 million from £42.8 million, and administrative expenses decreasing 19% to £64.7 million from £79.4 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled to £12.4 million from £5.3 million last year.

With the results announcement, Time Out also launched a share placing intended to raise around £8.0 million. It completed the offer on Wednesday afternoon, raising £8.4 million from the issue of 16.8 million new shares at 50 pence each. Of these, directors, including Non-Executive Chair Peter Dubens, bought 1.8 million shares.

Shares in Time Out were up 9.9% at the placing price of 50.00p in London on Wednesday afternoon.

The company said it intends to use the proceeds of the equity raise to support its market expansion and investment into technology developments.

Looking ahead, Time Out said it had a ‘clear plan to drive like-for-like growth in existing Markets, whilst continuing to convert the strong pipeline of potential new Market sites and large media advertising deals’. It added that trading for financial 2025 remains in line with management expectations, but did not specify on Wednesday what those expectations are.

Time Out late on Friday last week confirmed it is in negotiations for a potential Time Out Market in London. This would be in addition to the company’s sites in cities such as New York, Lisbon and Cape Town. Time Out has not entered into any legally binding arrangements, so there can be no certainty that current negotiations will result in a subsequent opening, it cautioned.

Chief Executive Officer Chris Ohlund said: ‘The Time Out brand is a critical contributor to the success of both Media and Markets, and rather than view these businesses as two separate units, we believe there is substantial potential to increase synergies between the two and cement Time Out as a unique proposition, both for our audience and for our commercial partners.

‘Time Out continues to be trusted and relevant as we inspire and enable millions of people every month to experience the best of the city. Our turnaround programme has transformed the Ebitda profitability of the group. We are now focused on executing our growth strategy.’

Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.