London analytics firm reports 39% revenue drop but sees "strong" online growth

A London data and analytics company has reported a 38.9 per cent decline in revenue for the first half of the year following the impact of coronavirus.

Ascential announced today that its revenue dropped from £236.2m in the first half of 2019 to £144.3m in the same period this year.

It attributed most of this dip to the cancellation of live events, with a £96.8m decline in that area.

However, its online services have seen “strong” growth, with digital commerce growing 21 per cent to £53.6m, and a 10 per cent increase in earnings from digital subscriptions.

Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential, commented: “I am proud that Ascential has responded with resilience and resourcefulness, evident in our day-to-day operations and underlying financial performance, during a period of significant global challenge.

“We increased the output and frequency of insights provided to both existing and potential customers, via podcasts, webinars and other original digital content, often achieving record levels of engagement with our audience.

“We have also strengthened our balance sheet and maintain significant liquidity to enable us to continue to invest in new opportunities.

“Our digital commerce business was well positioned to respond quickly and comprehensively to the huge changes in consumer behaviour seen in recent months, supporting our brand manufacturer customers in a period of unparalleled demand.

“The fluid nature of the worldwide pandemic and its management makes it impossible to be precise about the short-term outlook for the company, but we take significant comfort that we pivoted our strategy to become a global leader in digital commerce.

“We remain ready to run our market-leading events as and when restrictions on face-to-face gatherings are lifted and the economics of running events are positive.

“We are confident that Ascential is well positioned to execute its strategy based on the strength of our platform, organisation and balance sheet.”

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