Videndum H1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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September 26, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Revenue was 7% lower year‑on‑year but improved sequentially (up 8% vs H2 2023), with adjusted operating profit of £11m, net debt reduced to £117m and strong cash conversion at 165%.
  • Negative Sentiment: Management now expects full‑year 2024 to be below prior expectations as customer orders remain slow to convert due to cash constraints, strike impacts and high interest rates.
  • Positive Sentiment: They are implementing a strategic cost‑saving programme to deliver at least £10m of permanent savings in FY2025 while having kept operating expenses ~17% below H1 2022 and largely protecting R&D spend.
  • Neutral Sentiment: The group renegotiated its RCF in Q2, extending termination to August 2026, reducing the committed facility to £150m (from £200m) and securing improved covenants to reflect lower borrowings after the equity raise.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management highlights improving lead indicators — cine/scripted TV production recovery expected in 2025 and growing premium compact camera sales — supported by a pipeline of new products (Vinten VEGA, Salt‑E Dog, 4K monitors, microphones) that management expects will drive recovery and aftermarket attachments in 2025.
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Earnings Conference Call
Videndum H1 2024
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Good morning, and welcome to Videndum's half-year results presentation for 2024. I'm Stephen Bird, Group Chief Executive, and I'm presenting today with Andrea Rigamonti, Group Chief Financial Officer. Here's today's agenda. I'll begin with an overview of the first half, followed by an update on current trading and market conditions. Andrea will then take you through the financial performance, and I'll conclude with a summary before we go to analyst Q&A. Turning to the half-year results, revenue in the first half was broadly in line with our expectations, showing sequential improvement from Q1 to Q2 and from H2 2023 to H1 2024. We saw some recovery in cine and scripted TV activity, with revenue significantly higher than H2 2023. The macroeconomic environment remains challenging.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Our consumer and ICC segments continued to decline, though at a slower pace compared to 2023, and there was significantly less destocking than in H1 2023. Overall, we closed the half-year with revenue 7% lower than in H1 2023, but 8% higher than H2 2023. As you would expect, we continue to implement mitigating actions, maintaining tight control over capital expenditure and working capital. Our actions meant that operating expenses have remained flat over the last 18 months and are 17% lower than in H1 2022. However, we've been careful to largely protect our R&D investment, ensuring that the group remains well-positioned to deliver market-leading products to maximize the recovery. Adjusted operating profit was GBP 11 million, up GBP 14 million on H2 2023.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Net debt at the end of June came down to GBP 117 million, reduced from GBP 128.5 million at December, and we delivered strong cash conversion at 165%. We stated our intention at the full year to renegotiate our RCF with our lending banks, and this was successfully completed in Q2. The facility was extended by six months to August 2026, reduced to GBP 150 million from GBP 200 million, and the lending covenants were improved. Turning now to current trading and outlook. Taking our three main market segments in turn. First, there are signs that the underlying U.S. cine and scripted TV production activity is continuing to improve, with commissioning of new productions starting to ramp up. Industry-wide sentiment shows an expected return to a more normalized level during 2025.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Now, clearly, this is later than we and everyone else expected. Second, the macroeconomic environment is still subdued. Although the decline in our consumer and ICC segments has not got worse, the market has not yet started to improve as we expected. The good news is that we are seeing an exciting pickup in sales of premium compact system cameras with consistently positive CIPA data. And third, our broadcast segment remains steady. Our camera core team has recently returned from successfully delivering the Summer 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games contract, which has been our largest project to date. We're also expecting a benefit this year from the U.S. presidential election. Despite the signs of a pickup in cine and scripted TV productions and growth in the professional camera market, it's taking time for these positive trends to convert into orders for products in our sectors.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

This is largely due to ongoing cash constraints among our customers due to the impact from the strikes, high interest rates, and concerns about the global economy. This means that we, along with other companies in our sectors, are yet to see the expected improvement in our orders. As a result, we now expect full-year 2024 to be below our previous expectations. However, we expect the cine and scripted TV market to return to high levels of demand during 2025 and our ICC segment to start to benefit from the increase in premium camera sales. Net debt is on track, but as you would expect, in response to the poor end markets, we're implementing a strategic cost-saving program projected to deliver at least GBP 10 million in additional permanent savings in full-year 2025.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

I'm confident that our markets will recover well during 2025 and that we will benefit. Our lead indicators for top-line recovery are positive, and we have a wide range of innovative, market-leading products which our customers want and need. The fundamental market growth drivers remain attractive, particularly in our focus area of high-end, professional and B2B content creation, and we don't believe that there have been any structural changes as a result of the headwinds. Turning to slide six, I'll explain why I remain confident in our recovery. Cine and scripted TV productions are recovering and are expected to return to pre-strike levels of demand during 2025. The U.S. IATSE and Teamsters unions only agreed new contracts at the end of July 2024. This hasn't helped, as the threat of strikes have kept many productions on hold until August.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Although the recovery is delayed a lot longer than anyone thought, new productions are starting to ramp up, and we expect to begin to see the benefit of this in due course. However, we're currently seeing a lag in receiving orders as our customers remain cautious due to cash restraints and have been slow to invest in new equipment, particularly in the U.S. Major players are investing significantly, reflecting the continued demand for subscription TV and original content creation. For example, in Netflix's Q2 earnings call, they confirmed their continued investment in premium content, having spent $8 billion in H1, out of a planned $17 billion spend for the year. This is a significant increase on 2023, and actually at the same level as 2022.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Amazon Prime recently announced that it was acquiring Bray Film Studios in the U.K., and Disney plans to invest $5 billion over the next five years in U.K. and European productions. This increasing investment demonstrates the long-term confidence in the market, which we will benefit from, and we expect to see more normalized levels of orders in 2025. Turning now to the ICC market. This continues to be difficult for all companies in the content creation segment, driven by low confidence and high interest rates. However, sales of new premium compact system cameras continue to grow, driven by the new technology, with year-to-date global shipments of interchangeable lens cameras to July, up 8% on last year.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

The sales of new camera lenses are also up 12% year to date, and major camera manufacturers confirmed that this positive trend in their recent results. Forecasting growth in their imaging segments. This is very encouraging, and we expect the ICC segment in our Media Solutions Division to start to benefit from the attachment of our products to these new cameras. Professionals and prosumers tend to buy a camera first, followed by upgrading their camera lenses, and there's then a lag before they buy Videndum accessories, for example, bags and tripods, which tend to be bought next. Videndum is a product company, and key to our recovery is our continued focus on developing innovative technology to improve our customers' productivity and to drive shorter replacement cycles. This slide shows some examples of the group's exciting technology innovations, which save our customers time and money and support the recovery.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Our strategy is to invest in the product segments with the highest growth and margin improvement potential. In broadcast TV, investment in automation is driving cost efficiencies in studios. This benefits our market-leading Vinten Robotics and Autoscript prompting technology, which are extremely cost-effective for studios. This trend is expected to expand to outside broadcast and sports applications. Our Vinten VEGA automated presenter tracking software is being installed in TV studios around the world, and it's becoming the most used solution in the market and has a strong pipeline of opportunities. There is also a good pipeline for our award-winning Salt-E Dog sustainable portable power solution. Products are shipping and in customers' hands, albeit sales have also suffered from the lack of cash in the market. We've applied for comprehensive patent protection and believe there are wider applications for the products in adjacent vertical markets, such as live events.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Sales of our 4K HDR zero-delay products and our SmallHD monitors have picked up, now the strike is over, driven by the migration from HD to 4K and the launch of the Bolt 6 and the new SmallHD monitors. High-end audio capture is also an exciting growth opportunity for the group, particularly as we develop a range of professional microphones using Audix's capabilities, and finally, we've developed an innovative new platform to accelerate the replacement cycle in photo and video supports for the new compact system cameras, and products are expected to launch during 2025. In summary, market conditions are starting to improve, and we're expecting cine and scripted TV to be back to more normal conditions during 2025. Our belief in the medium-term prospects for our market remains intact, and our new technologies will continue to drive shorter replacement cycles.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

In addition, we continue to take decisive and permanent cost actions. Now I'll hand over to Andrea for more details on our financial performance.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

Thank you, Stephen. I will now take you through the numbers for the first half of 2024. Revenue declined by 7% compared to the first half of last year, and it was 8% up sequentially compared to the second half of last year. Actions taken in 2023 to mitigate against the revenue decline continued into 2024, with operating expenses having been sustained at a lower level across the last 18 months, 17% lower than the operating expenses in 2022. In the next two slides, I will provide bridges, setting out the main factors that have impacted revenue and adjusted operating profit. Net finance expense decreased due to lower borrowings following the equity raise at the end of 2023 and despite higher interest rates on borrowings. Let's now take a look at revenue.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

Revenue was down 7% compared to the first half of last year. Revenue for cine and scripted TV market was lower than in the first half of last year, with demand continuing to be impacted by the effects of the writers and actors strikes in 2023. However, there were signs of improvement, and revenue was up on the second half of last year, which was heavily impacted by the strikes. The macroeconomic environment affecting the consumer and ICC segments remained challenging, although there was significantly less destocking than in the first half of last year. The stronger pound adversely impacted revenue. The revenue decline on the first half of 2023 on a constant currency basis was 5%. I'll now turn to the factors impacting adjusted operating profit.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

The lower sales volume dropped through to operating profit at around 50%, which is in line with our average marginal contribution. The cost actions taken in 2023 were maintained, but let me elaborate on how we have managed our cost base over the last few years. Towards the end of 2022, and in 2023, we took self-help actions to streamline our cost base and take advantage of location synergies. Alongside these long-term actions, we made short-term savings as we tightly controlled discretionary spend in operating expenses and on capital expenditure. As you can see from the chart, operating expenses dropped materially when compared to 2022 as a result of these actions. CapEx on PP&E has been held at a low level, but we have largely protected investment in R&D to remain well-positioned as markets improve.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

In response to ongoing trading challenges, we are now implementing a strategic cost-saving program projected to deliver at least GBP 10 million of additional permanent cost savings in FY 2025. Let's now take a look at the divisional detail of the first half performance. Conditions continue to be difficult for all divisions, although the factors affecting each are different. The strikes had the largest impact within Creative Solutions last year, and so while Creative Solutions has seen increased revenue year-on-year, Production Solutions and Media Solutions revenues have declined. Media Solutions, in particular, had a strong first half last year for their Cine products before the strikes began, and so compare unfavorably this year. Consumer and ICC demand weakness was mainly felt in Media Solutions, but ICCs also impacted Production Solutions.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

Destocking predominantly impacted Media Solutions last year, and so there was a favorable year-on-year effect that offset the market weakness. In the broadcast market, robotic sales were up 50% compared to the first half of last year, driven by the Vinten VEGA Robotics Control System. However, this was offset by a slightly lower performance in our broadcast manual supports and lighting products. Corporate costs were higher than the first half of last year, but in line with the second half. In the first half of 2023, there was a one-off reversal of certain non-cash charges relating to share options. Now that we have looked at the P&L, let's turn to cash and debt. Net debt at the end of June was GBP 117 million, GBP 12 million lower than at the end of December 2023.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

We delivered GBP 80 million of operating cash flow, representing 165% cash conversion on operating profit. Within operating cash flow, trade working capital improved by GBP 4 million. Capital expenditure was at a similar level to the first half of last year, despite some investment to deliver the Olympics contract. Interest payments were GBP 5 million. We received a net tax refund of GBP 1 million, and we received GBP 2.5 million from the sale of a property. Free cash flow was GBP 15 million, compared to an outflow in both halves of last year. Our leverage at June 2024 was 3.3x, which is the same level as it was at December 2023, with the lower first half profit offset by the lower net debt.

Andrea Rigamonti
Andrea Rigamonti
Group CFO at Videndum

At the end of June, the group renegotiated its RCF, extending its termination to August 2026 and reducing its committed facility to GBP 150 million. This reflects the lower level of borrowings that the group is operating with after the equity raise in December 2023. As part of this renegotiation, the group also agreed improvements to its covenants. I'll now hand back to Stephen.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Thank you, Andrea. To summarize, the first half of 2024 remained challenging for the group. However, the lead indicators in high-end professional content creation are showing encouraging signs of improvement. Cine and scripted TV production is beginning to recover, and we expect to see more normalized levels of demand in 2025. Although the ICC market continues to be depressed, our ICC segment is expected to start to benefit from the new sales of the new professional cameras during 2025. We remain focused on driving operational excellence, and we're implementing the strategic cost saving program to deliver additional permanent savings in full-year 2025 of at least GBP 10 million. We're investing appropriately in new products to drive shorter replacement cycles and deliver the recovery. We've got market-leading premium products and exceptional people, and we operate in defensible niche markets.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

We're in an exciting market with attractive growth drivers, and we remain confident that our markets will recover during 2025. We're now going to move on to our analyst question and answer session, so I'd like to hand over to our operator. Dial-in details are shown on this slide.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by for the Q&A session, as it will begin shortly.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. We will wait a few more seconds for the questioners to join. Since we have received no further questions, I will now hand back to Stephen Bird for closing remarks.

Stephen Bird
Stephen Bird
Group CEO at Videndum

Okay. Thanks. I think there are no questions, so thanks, everybody, for listening in. I'll hopefully be able to catch up with lots of you over the next week or so. So thanks very much for listening and talk to you all soon. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Have a great day. Thank you.

Executives
    • Andrea Rigamonti
      Andrea Rigamonti
      Group CFO
    • Stephen Bird
      Stephen Bird
      Group CEO
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