29 sep 25   blackbird plc - interim results blackbird plc | bird | 1.8 -0.45 (-19.6%) | mkt cap: 8.47m    rns number : 1011b blackbird plc 29 september 2025    29 september 2025   blackbird plc (the "company")   interim results for the 6 months ended 30 june 2025   blackbird plc (aim: bird), the technology licensor, developer and seller of both the market-leading cloud native video editing platform, blackbird, and the multiplayer editor in a browser, elevate.io, announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 june 2025.   ian mcdonough, executive chair of blackbird plc, commented:   "we have hit some important milestones for the business since the beginning of the year.   "with elevate.io we have:   ·      launched our payment gateway and onboarded our first paying customers; ·    successfully completed a fund raise in july 2025 raising gross proceeds of £2.1 million, to help fund elevate.io through its product market fit phase; ·     identified our first ideal customer profile ("icp") as entrepreneurs, founders and small businesses; ·    activated additional marketing channels as our confidence in the readiness of elevate.io for our icp has increased; and ·    continued to develop elevate.io at pace with standard features (such as "boundary boxes") and innovative features (such as "instant review").   "with blackbird we have: ·      generated a positive ebitda in h1 for the first time in the company's history; and ·     successfully renewed contracts with img, cbs19 and, post period. with cbs sports, ncsa and the global winter games for 2026.   "our vision with elevate.io is to change the way video content is created, by building the first true co-creation platform for video. businesses are generally made up of teams and they need to collaborate. collaboration is not a niche in our icp, it's the norm. yet the workflows that exist today are linear, slow and cumbersome. by design, elevate.io's solution not only streamlines these but also removes the inherent frustration of the inefficient workflows.   "we are well into our journey to fulfil this vision; in order to achieve this transformational change to workflows we still have a way to go. ahead of scaling up, we are working on our product market fit, which involves filling some feature gaps, such as captions and animated graphics. we plan for some experimentation, evaluation and iteration to increase customer engagement, retention and the conversion rate from free to paid subscriptions. whilst undertaking this work we have reduced our search spend, which has been the primary paid user acquisition channel, and, together with moving to full price, this has, as anticipated, impacted our paid user numbers. instead, we have begun seeding elevate.io through events and webinars, in order to attract more engaged users and customers.       "understanding our icp, and having attended our first in person events for teams who create content for marketing purposes, i have never been more confident about elevate.io and our vision for it. we have the team and technology to achieve this and the associated sizeable market opportunity. i look forward to updating shareholders on our progress in the coming months."   operational highlights (post period)   ·         following completion of our fundraising in july 2025, we have commenced new marketing channels for elevate.io to drive awareness and subscription: reasons given for customers ceasing to pay, based on our surveys, include that elevate.io does not have features, such as captions, animated graphics and mobile uploads, that they expect. § two advertisements commissioned for youtube, that will air from october 2025; § organic youtube channel started with weekly updates; § focus on organic instagram channel, with a rise in followers from 600 to over 2,000, with over 100,000 views; § attendance at ideas fest, technology for marketing, marketingshowcase and greater new york chamber of commerce events in september 2025 with more to follow in the coming months; and § collaborations announced with enterprise nation and barclays eagle labs to upskill entrepreneurs and founders on video creation. ·              enhancement of elevate.io, including: § "live review" launched, which aims to halve the time for 'review and approve' workflows vs elevate.io's competitors; § first ai tool, being "text to speech", added; § start of digital asset management functionality, which is anticipated to be a key differentiator versus non-cloud competitors; and § boundary boxing functionality to enable a better user experience, especially for less experienced editors. ·        697 paying customers have signed up to elevate.io with 344 of these paying at 26 september 2025. reasons given for customers ceasing to pay, based on our surveys, include that elevate.io does not have features, such as captions, animated graphics and mobile uploads, that they expect. our product development is focusing on these items to address our icp's needs and we anticipate this will increase user engagement, retention and the conversion rate from free to paid users. ·             monthly returning active users1 for elevate.io of circa 1,450 in august 2025, the latest completed month. ·             chaired a panel on the 'superpowered creator in the world of ai' at the sxsw london conference. ·             successful deal renewals for blackbird with cbs sports, ncsa and the global winter games 2026.   1users who used elevate.io in august but also in prior months   financial highlights (post period)   ·        placing, management subscription and retail offer raised c. £2.13 million (before expenses) to fund elevate.io through its product market fit phase. ·            £1,235k* secured revenue for the year ending 31 december 2025 at 31 august 2025, down 17% vs prior year (2024 comparative: £1,482k) due to some contract losses as detailed in the financial review below. ·       contracted but unrecognised revenues of £1,602k* at 31 august 2025 up 23% vs prior year (2024 comparative: £1,299k). £466k relates to 2025 and £818k revenue relates to 2026 and the remainder to 2027. the multi-year renewals with the global financial news organisation and fifa were the main drivers behind the increased balance.   * subject to exchange rate fluctuations   operational highlights (during the 6 months ended 30 june 2025)   ·              payment gateway launched for elevate.io on 11 february 2025. ·             elevate.io was continually enhanced via a rapid deployment method.  during the period multiple features were added including comments, looks and effects. the 'learning hub' was released to assist users to produce their video content and use elevate.io's feature set to the full. ·            selected to join innovate uk's global business innovation programme which included a fully-funded trip to attend the south by southwest conference in austin, texas in march 2025. ·             renewals for blackbird signed with cbs19, a charlottesville-based local tv station, and img.   financial highlights (during the 6 months ended 30 june 2025)   ·           revenues of £577k for the six months to 30 june 2025, down 17% year on year (six months to 30 june 2024: £692k). the decrease arose due to a combination of a one-off event in h1 2024 and some deal losses. ·          contracted but unrecognised revenues up 19% year on year to £1,506k at 30 june 2025 (£1,262k as at 30 june 2024) due to the previously announced renewals of some major deals in h2 2024. ·        decreased operating costs of £1,613k (six months to 30 june 2024: £2,028k), driven by reduced staff numbers. ·        reduced ebitda loss of £1,146k (six months to 30 june 2024: £1,408k) due to lower operating costs partially offsetting lower revenues (as explained above). ·           similar net loss after tax of £1,561k (six months to 30 june 2024: £1,544k) due to reduced ebitda loss pre share options (as explained above) offset by higher amortisation and a lower r&d tax credit. ·          cash burn, excluding transfers from short term investments, decreased by 23% to £1,496k (six months to 30 june 2024: £1,900k) due to reduced overheads from lower staff numbers. ·            cash and short-term investments at 30 june 2025 of £2,274k (30 june 2024: £3,770k) and no debt.     contacts:   blackbird plc                                                                                        tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245 ian mcdonough, executive chair stephen white, chief operating and financial officer   allenby capital limited (nominated adviser and broker)                       tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656 nick naylor / piers shimwell (corporate finance) amrit nahal / guy mcdougall (equity sales and corporate broking)   about blackbird plc blackbird plc operates in the fast-growing saas, media and entertainment and content creation markets.  blackbird plc's patented technology allows for frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing and editing in the cloud and it has two products.   blackbirdⓡ a market leading suite of cloud-native computing applications, is used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, live events and content owners, post production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations.   elevate.io is the company's new online collaborative content creation platform. elevate.io is built using blackbird's core technology and is aimed at professional teams and the fast growing creator economy.   blackbird plc also licences its core video technology, under its 'powered by blackbird' licensing model, enabling video companies to accelerate their path to true cloud business models.   www.blackbirdplc.com www.elevate.io www.blackbird.video www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud   operational review   the period under review saw significant progress on elevate.io against the board's growth strategy.  specifically:   •     elevate.io's payment gateway was launched seamlessly in february 2025 allowing customers to pay for the platform  via monthly subscriptions; •   continued a rapid development deployment cycle leading to regular updates of elevate.io adding functionality and features. core features added in the period included comments, looks and effects and a 'learning hub' to assist users to produce their video content and use elevate.io's feature set to the full; and •     elevate.io has proved to be a stable, reliable platform and built on the core blackbird technology offers users speed, smoothness of playback and navigation.   it is important to remember how far we have come since elevate.io was conceived in the summer of 2022 and we started developing it in 2023. this has happened quickly when compared to similar disruptive saas products in parallel industries and has only been possible by leveraging our core blackbird technology and our know-how. whilst we still have a way to go to fulfil our vision for elevate.io we have proven the demand with over one hundred thousand verified users signed up, with 697 having signed up to our paid creator plan and with 344 active paying customers at 26 september 2025. this is in line with our expectations with elevate.io being in its product market fit phase. reasons given for customers ceasing to pay, based on our surveys, include that elevate.io does not have features, such as captions, animated graphics and mobile uploads, that they expect. these are being actively worked on. during this phase, we will continue to engage with our icp and will also evaluate different marketing channels to increase our engagement, retention and paying customer growth rate and prove our business model ahead of scale up.   to date we have undertaken minimal marketing spend on promoting elevate.io but post completion of our fundraise in july 2025 this is changing as additional marketing channels are being activated and coming on stream as we feel more confident about the readiness of elevate.io for our icp. we have identified our first icps as entrepreneurs, founders and small businesses. our current feature set and our differentiated collaborative functionality is best suited to content creation with this community. as we look to attract this icp by a series of events and webinars we have cut back on our search advertising spend, which to date has been our primary paid subscription driver, until we have increased engagement, retention and the free to paid user conversion rate.   the serviceable addressable market ("sam") for elevate.io's vision is $6.9billion1 and, the board believe that elevate.io can revolutionise how video content is produced in this market. elevate.io's feature set is improving at pace and throughout its product market fit phase we continue to target customers via different channels to grow our paid user base and prove the business model ahead of scale up.     1 source wainhouse research 2022   commercial activity during the first 6 months of 2025 on the blackbird platform has included successful renewals with cbs 19 and img and, post period end with cbs sports and ncsa, where blackbird continues to be used on some of the highest profile news and sports content.  through tight cost management the division was ebitda positive in the first half of the year for the first time.   financial review   h1 2025 revenue decreased by 17% to £577k compared to the corresponding period last year (six months to 30 june 2024 £692k). the decrease arose from deal losses from arsenal, nrl and sky news arabia, as well as a non-repeating event in h1 2024.   contracted but unrecognised revenue was £1,506k at 30 june 2025, an increase of 19% compared to 30 june 2024 (£1,262k) mainly due to the renewal of our deal with the global financial news organisation.   operating costs for the period decreased to £1,613k versus £2,028k in the corresponding period. the year on year decrease resulted from tight cost management including a reduction in staff costs.   ebitda loss of £1,146k (six months to 30 june 2024: £1,408k) was due to the reduction in operating costs partially offset by lower revenue as explained above.      the net loss for the period £1,561k (2024: £1,544k) was in line with the prior period due to a lower ebitda loss, offset by decreased net financial income from lower average cash balances compared to the prior period.   cash burn in the period, excluding proceeds from share issues and transfers from short-term investments, was £1,496k versus £1,900k in the same period in 2024 driven by lower operating costs partially offset by lower revenues, as explained above. the cash balance at the end of the period of £2.27 million was bolstered post period by a £2.13 million fundraise (pre-expenses) to see the company through elevate.io's product market fit phase.   outlook   the blackbird division continues to operate within expectations. through strict cost management, we forecast that the division will achieve a positive ebitda in h2 and for the year ending 31 december 2025.   post the period end, we successfully completed a fundraise of £2.1million to see elevate.io through its product market fit phase. we are using these proceeds to rapidly add additional features that our icp expect and open up our marketing channels to address this audience.   the board is excited about the prospects for elevate.io and confident that engagement, retention and paid user numbers for elevate.io will grow as we focus on our icp and look to achieve product market fit.  with our world class technology and team we have the opportunity to revolutionise existing video production workflows and address a sizeable market opportunity.    unaudited and condensed statement of comprehensive income for the six months ended 30 june 2025      unaudited  unaudited  audited    half year to  half year to  year to    30 june  30 june  31 december    2025  2024  2024            £  £  £   continuing operations                 revenue   576,895         691,643   1,607,673   cost of sales  (83,267)  (49,681)  (141,973)           gross profit   493,628  641,962  1,465,700           other income  -  -  2,000           operating costs excluding ltip provision  (1,612,858)  (2,028,465)  (3,604,239)   adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation, employee share option costs (adjusted ebitda pre share option expense)   (1,119,230)  (1,386,503)  (2,136,539)   employee share option costs  (26,545)  (21,391)  (47,044)           earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation (ebitda)     (1,145,775)  (1,407,894)  (2,183,583)           depreciation  (7,387)  (62,185)  (82,498)   amortisation  (480,897)  (220,498)  (411,585)    (488,284)  (282,683)  (494,083)           operating loss   (1,634,059)  (1,690,577)  (2,677,666)           net finance income  73,458  146,679  259,928                   loss before income tax   (1,560,601)  (1,543,898)  (2,417,738)           income tax  -  -  70,887           loss for the period   (1,560,601)  (1,543,898)  (2,346,851)           total comprehensive loss for the period  (1,560,601)  (1,543,898)  (2,346,851)   earnings per share expressed in pence per share:         basic and diluted - continuing and total operations  (0.40p)  (0.40p)  (0.61p)                                                                                                                                                                                                   unaudited and condensed statement of financial position at 30 june 2025      unaudited  unaudited  audited   30 june  30 june  31 december   2025  2024  2024 assets   £  £  £        non-current assets              other intangible assets  4,135,612  3,132,916  3,831,607 property, plant and equipment  12,967  20,448  17,655     4,148,579   3,153,364   3,849,261        current assets              trade and other receivables  194,848  396,142  732,375 current tax assets  70,889  0  70,887 short-term investments  293,815  2,342,039  607,376 cash and bank balances  1,980,177  3,275,509  3,162,581     2,539,729   6,013,690   4,573,219        total assets   6,688,308   9,167,054   8,442,481        equity              issued share capital  3,096,618  3,096,618  3,096,618 share premium  34,980,224  34,980,224  34,980,224 capital contribution reserve  125,000  125,000  125,000 retained earnings  (32,190,614)  (29,879,257)  (30,656,558)     6,011,228   8,322,585   7,545,284               current liabilities              trade and other payables  677,080  844,469  877,198        total liabilities   677,080   844,469   877,198        total equity and liabilities   6,688,308   9,167,054   8,422,481   unaudited and condensed statement of changes in equity for the six months ended 30 june 2025        called up share capital  share premium  capital contribution reserve  retained earnings  total equity    £  £  £  £  £               balance at 1 january 2024   2,947,284  34,079,856  125,000  (28,356,751)  8,795,389                           issue of share capital (net of expenses)   149,334  900,368  -  -  1,049,702   share based payment  -  -  -  21,391  21,391               total comprehensive income  -  -  -  (1,543,898)  (1,543,898)               balance at 30 june 2024  3,096,618  34,980,224  125,000  (29,879,258)  8,322,584               changes in equity                         issue of share capital (net of expenses)  -  -  -  -  -               share based payment  -  -  -  25,653  25,653               total comprehensive income  -  -  -  (802,953)  (802,953)               balance at 31 december 2024  3,096,618  34,980,224  125,000  (30,656,558)  7,545,284               changes in equity                         issue of share capital  -  -  -  -  -               share based payment  -  -  -  26,545  26,545               total comprehensive income  -  -  -  (1,560,601)  (1,560,601)               balance at 30 june 2025  3,096,618  34,980,224  125,000  (32,190,614)  6,011,228       unaudited and condensed statement of cash flows for the six months ended 30 june 2025        unaudited  unaudited  audited   half year to  half year to  year to 31   30 june  30 june  december   2025  2024  2024   £  £  £        ebitda   (1,145,775)  (1,407,894)  (2,183,583) employee share option costs  26,545    21,391  47,044   increase / (decrease) in working capital  335,303  78,039  (377,038) cash used in operations  (783,927)  (1,308,464)  (2,513,577)        interest paid on lease liabilities  -  -  (70) tax received  -  108,704  108,704 net cash outflow from operating activities  (783,927)  (1,199,760)  (2,404,943)        cash flows from investing activities       payments for intangible fixed assets  (787,461)  (806,110)  (1,695,887) payments for property, plant and equipment  -  (3,198)  (20,719) transfer from short-term investments  313,562  146,970  1,881,633 interest received  75,422  138,004  402,825 net cash (outflow) / inflow from investing activities  (398,477)  (524,334)  567,852        cash flows from financing activities       share issue (net of expenses)  -  1,049,702  1,049,702 payment of lease liabilities  -  (29,364)  (29,295) net cash inflow from financing activities  -  1,020,338  1,020,407        decrease in cash and cash equivalents  (1,182,404)  (703,756)       (816,684) cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period  3,162,581  3,979,265  3,979,265 cash and cash equivalents at end of period  1,980,177  3,275,509  3,162,581      notes to the unaudited and condensed consolidated interim accounts for the six months ended 30 june 2025   1.         basis of preparation and accounting policies   these interim statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with uk adopted international accounting standards.  they do not contain all of the information required for full financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the financial statements of the company as at and for the year ended 31 december 2024.  these interim financial statements do not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of the companies act.    the interim financial information has not been audited. the interim financial information was approved by the board of directors on 26 september 2025.  the information for the year ended 31 december 2024 is extracted from the statutory financial statements for that year which have been reported on by the company's auditors and delivered to the registrar of companies. the audit report was unqualified and did not contain a statement under s498 (2) or 498(3) of the companies act 2006.   the accounting policies applied by the company in these interim financial statements are the same as those applied by the company in its financial statements for the year ended 31 december 2024.   2.         divisional breakdown   for the six months ended 30 june 2025       blackbird corporate elevate.io total     unaudited unaudited unaudited unaudited     half year to half year to half year to half year to     30 june 2025 30 june 2025 30 june 2025 30 june 2025             £ £ £ £ continuing operations              revenue  572,161 - 4,734  576,895     cost of sales  (48,833) - (34,434) (83,267)        gross profit / (loss)   523,328 - (29,700) 493,628        operating costs excluding ltip provision  (396,309) (506,653) (709,896) (1,612,858) adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation, employee share option costs (adjusted ebitda before share option costs)  127,019 (506,653) (739,596) (1,119,230)               employee share option costs  - (26,545) - (26,545)        earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation (ebitda)  127,019 (533,198) (739,596) (1,145,775)     for the six months ended 30 june 2024       blackbird corporate elevate.io total     unaudited unaudited unaudited unaudited     half year to half year to half year to half year to     30 june 2024 30 june 2024 30 june 2024 30 june 2024             £ £ £ £ continuing operations              revenue  691,643 - - 691,643 cost of sales  (49,681) - - (49,681)        gross profit   641,962 - - 641,962        operating costs excluding ltip provision  (823,550) (518,222) (686,693) (2,028,465) adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation, employee share option costs (adjusted ebitda before share option costs)  (181,588) (518,222) (686,693) (1,386,503)               employee share option costs    -   (21,391)   -   (21,391)        earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation (ebitda)  (181,588) (539,613) (686,693) (1,407,894)       this information is provided by rns, the news service of the london stock exchange. rns is approved by the financial conduct authority to 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Label: Gesunken