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Brave Bison on the charge in 2017 as it continues turnaround

Last updated: 14:50 03 Apr 2017 BST, First published: 15:50 21 Nov 2016 GMT

people sat round a table discussing the marketing strategy
Brave Bison helps to "redefine how people perceive brands"

Digital media and social video broadcaster Brave Bison Group plc (LON:BBSN) slashed its losses last year as revenues jumped and its cost-cutting strategy kicked in.

As it flagged in February’s  trading update, the group made a gross profit of £7.7mln in 2016, up from £6.1mln the year before on net revenue that rose 22% to £14.6mln (2015: £17.7mln).

Growth in the first half of the year was particularly strong with the firm making the most of the Euro 2016 football tournament last June.

On the cost-cutting side of things, Brave Bison closed several smaller offices in the period and now has just three bases, while it also trimmed its staff numbers.

That helped adjusted underlying losses (EBITDA), which exclude exceptional items, restructuring costs and share-based payments, narrow to £1.8mln from £8.7mln a year earlier.

Asia Pacific continues to be a key region for the company, with staff numbers in the area increasing during the year. Brave Bison Asia Pacific was also set up in 2016 to help the group exploit what it expects to be a lucrative market going forward.

What it does

Brave Bison is a digital media specialist which, at its heart, helps brands, content creators and publishers build and engage audiences through the use of media.

It has three divisions: Brave Studio; Brave Brand; and Brave Talent.

Brave Studio is the company’s in-house studio that creates original content solutions to help “redefine how people feel about brands”.

Brave Brand has created social media campaigns for a range of companies including Coca Cola and Turkish Airlines.

Brave Talent is a management agency that represents “some of the biggest social influencers in the world”, and matches brands with personalities to generate the most amount of traction.

Among those on its books is Jérôme Jarre, of YouTube fame.

Hired by Shell

Only this month, Brave Bison revealed it has been hired by Shell International to “evolve” the oil giant’s YouTube strategy and channel management.

Essentially, Shell is using Brave Bison’s experience in the world of social media to help it maximise engagement with its 60,000+ subscribers on the popular video sharing platform.

The tie-up makes Brave Bison the first company the oil firm has ever hired to work directly on the strategic positioning and management of its YouTube channel.

Brave Bison will work with Shell’s internal teams to ‘maximise the potential’ of its YouTube channel and make sure the messages put out on social media are aligned to its communications strategy.

Yellowstone Studios

Brave Bison recently unveiled its new state-of-the-art broadcasting facility, Yellowstone Studios.

The studios, located in Hoxton, London, will be the home of Brave Bison’s multi-platform football network, Slash Football.

It is equipped with a green screen compatible studio and, importantly for the football side of things, comes complete with a football pitch.

The popular YouTube football show ‘The Last 5’ has been recording at the studios since the beginning of the month.

“Opening the studio marks a significant step change in Brave Bison's development,” said chief creative officer Will Pyne.

“It gives us a competitive edge over other video content producers, providing us with a creative and cultural hub to take our own programming to new levels of scale, quality and frequency. Just as importantly, we now have a space for brands and creators to test and explore ideas at the drop of a hat.”

Boardroom departures

Former chief executive Ashley MacKenzie resigned from his position in January following a “disagreement” with the board over the future strategy of the company.

He still remains on the board as a director though, and chief financial officer Kevin Deeley has taken on the role of interim CEO whilst a replacement is found, a process which is “well underway”.

Former chief operating officer Richard Mansell also stepped down a little while before MacKenzie, although this was for “private family reasons”, the firm said.

Brave Bison’s commercial leader in the Asia Pacific also departed in 2016, and the combination of all three stretched the sales effort towards the end of 2016. Brave Bison is hopeful that a similar situation won’t rear its head again this year.

Rebranding

Those investors who have been long-time followers of Brave Bison will probably know it better as Rightster.

It rebranded as Brave Bison in May of last year as it set about realigning its business, explaining at the time that the name change would challenge the way the company is thought of by brands and commercial partners.

“Re-naming the company to Brave Bison, emphasising our creativity and independence, is a statement of our intent to build a bolder and more valuable business,” the recently-departed MacKenzie said at the time.

The share price

It’s been a difficult year in terms of the share price as Brave Bison continues to implement its turnaround plan.

Shares are off by around 60% the beginning of the year, with the sudden departure of the chief executive in January and expected longer path to profitability weighing on the share price.

That said, the share price is up 20% over the past week and currently hovers around the 1.2p mark, giving the company a market capitalisation of almost £7mln.

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