OUTDOOR MEDIA OUTPERFORMING: OOH!

Cactus Imaging owner oOh! Media said out of home advertising is outperforming every other type of traditional media, as it reported its half year results, with Roads and Fly surging back to pre-pandemic levels.

Its share price soared, as the company reported revenue up by 7 per cent to $296.6m, and said momentum was building with “strong double-digit” sales growth in May-June.

Cactus Imaging is itself enjoying booming sales, and has just made a major $2m investment in two new five-metre print systems, including Australia’s first Fujifilm Acuity Ultra R2 roll-to-roll, and a Durst P5 350 hybrid. The company now has six five-metre wide print systems pumping out work 24 hours a day, along with a range of automated finishing equipment.

Keith Ferrel, general manager at Cactus said, "We have had a very good six months, volumes are up and revenues are up. We have made big investments, everything is growing in the right direction."

The adjusted EBITDA of $49.6m at oOh! Media was down 4 per cent, reflecting increased fixed rent relating to renewal of some larger contracts during CY2022 and lower rental abatements in the first half. Its adjusted net profit after tax was virtually identical to last year, at $20.5m compared to $20.4m then.

Cathy O’Connor, CEO of oOh! Media said it was digital uptick that is driving revenue at oOh! which she said took a record share from traditional media during the period. She said “Out of Home reported double-digit revenue growth in the period of 11.9 per cent, with digital revenue continuing to drive sector growth.

Out of Home captured 14 per cent of agency media spend in 1H23, surpassing the 1H19 peak of 13.7 per cent, and was also the fastest growing agency media segment, with growth of 14.7 per cent compared to a 4.2 per cent decline for total advertising agency spend for the industry.

O’Connor said, “Our Road format continued to grow strongly with revenue up 12 per cent for the period, and also performing well ahead of pre-pandemic levels with 1H23 revenue up 33 per cent on 1H19. Meanwhile, the continued recovery in air travel generated revenue growth in our Fly category which was up 73 per cent.”

Road
Revenue for the Road (billboard) division increased by 12 per cent to $103.4m over the six months to June. This accelerated in the last three months, with revenue rising 17 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

Street Furniture and Rail
Revenue in Street Furniture and Rail fell by 3 per cent to $93.5m, impacted in the first half by the introduction of a competitor’s (QMS) expanded City of Sydney offering in September last year. Revenue recovered in the second quarter with sales in May and June ahead of the same months in 2022.

Retail
Revenue in the Retail format increased by 3 per cent to $65m and the growth was stronger in the second quarter following a relatively flat start to the year. oOh! continued to gain share in the Retail segment in Australia.

Fly
The continued recovery in air travel helped, by 73 per cent to $21m. Revenue growth moderated in the June quarter in percentage terms, as the second quarter in 2022 was much stronger than the first following the lifting of Covid-related travel restrictions.

oOh! has been building its data to offer finely tuned targeting. “We continued to make good progress on our strategy which remains focused on driving revenue growth through leveraging our portfolio of existing assets with continued investments in digital and data capabilities to improve advertisers’ return on investment,” said O’Connor.