A switch to digital screens from traditional billboards has helped out-of-home advertising group oOh!Media lift to a solid improvement in half-year profit.
Revenue from digital screens became the major earner for oOh!Media in the six months to June 30, accounting for 52 per cent of revenue for the half compared to 44 per cent from digital a year earlier.
oOH!Media's chief executive Brendan Cook said returns from the company's strategy to convert to digital "remain compelling".
With digital assets now at 8,000 screens, oOH!Media added seven new large format Road screens; 23 new large format retail screens and over 200 smaller screens for the half, mainly in shopping centres, where revenue grew by 23.2 per cent on HY16.
A 22.5 per cent lift in net profit for the six months to June 30 to $7.3 million followed strong revenue growth across the company's diversified audience portfolio, Mr Cook said on Monday.
Despite a mixed performance in the air travel sector - where revenue fell 6.8 per cent to $24.7 million - oOH!media's group revenue of $173 million was up 18 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
Across the company's out-of-home (OOH) interests, digital revenue was up by more than a third, at 38.1 per cent to $90.2 million, on the same period last year.
oOh!media continues to bring key capabilites in-house, through the integration of its three 2016 strategic acquisitions: specialty printing business Cactus Imaging; Millennial-focused publisher Junkee Media and office building electronic screens operator Executive Channel International - businesses that extend advertisers' access to CBD digital space and provide Millennial-savvy content to market it.
The company has reaffirmed full year EDITDA guidance of $88 million to $92 million and expected capital expenditure of $35 million to $40 million.
"We will continue to execute an end-to-end digital strategy, including the continued rollout of a data analytics platform," Mr Cook said.
The company declared a fully franked interim dividend of 4.5 cents per share interim, up half a cent on the previous year.
Shares in oOH!Media gained 32 cents, or 7.9 per cent, to $4.36 on Monday.
DIGITAL PAYS DIVIDENDS FOR OOH!MEDIA
*Net profit up 22.5 per cent $7.3 million
* Total revenue up 18 per cent to $173 million.
*Interim dividend of 4.5 cents, up 12.5 per cent on previous year.
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