Ladbible owner LBG Media is eyeing more deals after US success
The boss of Ladbible owner LBG Media has said the company is building its merger and acquisition (M&A) pipeline following the success of its recent expansion in the US, where it bought Betches.
The Manchester-based entertainment company, aimed at Gen-Z social media users, bought the US-based company Betches in October last year for £44.4m as it looked to build on its strong presence in the US market.
This helped LBG boost its global audience by 24 per cent in 2023. It now has an audience of 452m, with 141m of those from the US.
On Thursday, it reported annual video views of 128bn, a 31 per cent year-on-year rise, across its Facebook, Snapchat, Tiktok, X, Youtube and web channels.
Chief executive Solly Solomou told City A.M. that the company has a number of different strategic focuses, including growing and building its audience base across platforms in the UK and US.
“If there is an opportunity to accelerate in a similar way to what we have with Betches,” he said, “we are absolutely building our M&A pipeline to see if there are areas to do that. So it will feature as it has done in the past.
“We’ve got a number of different targets that we’re speaking to…The US is absolutely a focus, but the UK also remains an equal focus for us on growing and building our position, which is very strong here in the UK,” he added.
LBG is also considering branching into new mediums to build out its offing from Ladbible, such as podcasts.
Overall, LBG posted total group revenue of £67.5m, up from £62.8m in 2022. The company said it has a “clear line of sight” to £200m in revenue.
The London-listed stock rose seven per cent when the market opened on Thursday. Although its shares have suffered over the past year, tumbling around 28 per cent due to challenges in LBG’s Australian operations, Zeus Capital analyst Rachel Birkett said the company has “strong momentum” going into 2024.
She said: “This market leading growth in audience and engagements reflects the strength of LBG’s offer, with strong ‘volume’ growth offsetting ongoing pressure of advertising yields resulting from lower global ad spend as well as the structural shift to short form video from late 2022.”
Ladbible owner LBG said it will be affected by the choppy ad market, but it is on track to deliver full-year expectations of revenue of £86.1m and adjusted pre-tax earnings of £23.5m.
“As one of the world’s largest digital entertainment businesses, our relationships with large blue-chip advertisers continue to deepen and grow, with an increasing roster of brands working with us year-after- year,” said Solomou.
“We operate in the largest and fastest-growing segment of the advertising market and provide an unparalleled proposition for brands wanting to access young adult audiences.
“Combined with ongoing expansion in the US market and our diverse revenue model, we are confident in our position to create significant value for shareholders in the years ahead,” he added.