LBG Media PLC on Tuesday said pretax profit more than doubled in the first-half, hailing ‘strong demand from blue-chip brands’.
The Manchester, England-based digital entertainment company runs comedic social media accounts such as LADBible. LBG attributed the uptick to investors keen to capitalise on the company’s youth appeal.
LBG posted £43.9 million in revenue for the six months ended March 31, up 13% from £38.8 the year prior. Of this, around 44% was direct, meaning it derived from content marketing services where LBG has direct engagement with the advertiser. The remainder was indirectly generated via LBG’s social media and web presence.
Pretax profit more than doubled, shooting to £8.6 million from £3.3 million in 2024.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rose 18% to 12.2% from 10.3%. This reflected a rise of 1.4 percentage points in the Ebitda margin to 27.8% from 26.4%.
Net cash at March 31 was £32.9 million, up from £27.2 million at September 30.
Basic earnings per share were 3.0 pence, up from 0.7p, while diluted EPS rose to 2.9p from 0.7p.
To-date, LBG has not declared any dividends.
LBG shares were 4.3% higher at 98.07p each on Tuesday morning in London.
The company suggested it had benefitted from structural trends, including the expansion of online advertising, plus ‘rising millennial and ’Gen Z’ buying power’.
LBG cautioned that tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty could impact advertising yields, but maintained it will hit its 10% revenue growth target, at a constant exchange rate.
Looking ahead, the company expects further progress in the second-half, enjoying the ‘momentum from wins in the US, healthy pipeline and audience engagement’. However, LBG forecast that a weaker US dollar against sterling will result in a £2 million blow to full-year revenue, and approximately £1 million hit to Ebitda.
‘The group has done all it can to mitigate the impact, including substantially hedging our US dollar cash flow exposure,’ LBG noted.
The company said US clients were generating at least $1 million in annual revenue at March 31.
Chief Executive Solly Solomou commented: ‘LBG Media has positive momentum, with double digit growth in the first half of 2025. This reflects our diversified and agile model, which offers blue-chip brands access to the hard-to-reach 16-34 year old demographic. In the US, we were pleased to secure several clients exceeding $1 million and build a healthy pipeline of near-term opportunities.
‘Our confidence of progress in the second half of the year is underpinned by our audience, the power of LBG Media’s brands, our attractiveness to brands and celebrities, and the relevance of our content,’ Solomou added.
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