MONTREAL – Acquisitions continue to pay off for Stingray Digital Group which saw its fourth quarter profits jump by over 24%, the company said Thursday.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, revenues increased 24.7% to $33.0 million, up from $26.5 million a year ago, primarily due to the acquisition of Yokee Music, Qello Concerts, Satellite Music Australia and SBA Music, combined with organic growth of SVoD services in the U.S.
Recurring revenues grew 30.8% to $29.7 million year-over-year and increased to 89.8% of total revenues for the quarter, compared to 85.6% of total revenues last year. For the quarter, Canadian revenues decreased 2.6% to $13.6 million (41.3% of total revenues) due to decrease in non-recurring revenues related to digital signage, United States revenues increased 102.2% to $7.8 million (23.5% of total revenues), and revenues in Other Countries increased by 34.4% to $11.6 million (35.2% of total revenues).
Music broadcasting revenues increased 26.0% to $24.8 million, mainly due to the acquisition of Yokee Music and Qello concerts, as well as organic growth in the U.S. market, primarily related to SVoD services. Commercial Music revenues rose 20.9% to $8.2 million, mainly due to the acquisition of SMA and SBA.
Net income inched up 1.4% to $4.7 million from $4.6 million in the same period last year, mainly attributable to higher operating results and net finance income, as well as lower legal fees, partially offset by lower income tax recovery and higher amortization expense.
Adjusted net income dipped to $9.7 million from $10.5 million a year ago as lower income net tax recovery was partially offset by higher adjusted EBITDA and net finance income.
Stingray added that its subscription video on demand subscribers reached 348,000 in the fourth quarter.
For Fiscal 2018, revenues increased 25.1% to $127.0 million compared to $101.5 million a year ago, which the company credited to its acquisitions combined with organic growth of SVoD in the U.S., as well as additional music and equipment sales related to digital signage. Net income fell 78.6% to $2.30 million from $10.7 million, and adjusted net income decreased 1.7% to $26.9 million from $27.3 million in Fiscal 2017.
“Our third year as a public company further highlighted the strength and solid execution of our business model," said Stingray president, CEO and co-founder Eric Boyko, in a statement. “All key financial metrics were in line or surpassed our expectations, with growth well above 20% on a year-over-year basis. In addition, organic growth for the year and the fourth quarter was a very solid 9%. Finally, our capacity to generate solid free cash flow has allowed us to increase the annualized dividend per share by 22% as compared to the previous year.”
Stingray’s complete fourth quarter financial results are available here.
