Iconic Labs PLC (LON:ICON) has performed a soft relaunch of LGBT+ news website Gay Star News (GSN) after previously acquiring the site for £33,000 in September.
The media firm said revenue is now being generated from advertising on the brand’s Facebook page, while a formal relaunch of the GSN website and a rebranding is planned in the near-term.
READ: Iconic Labs acquires Gay Star News
Iconic said it has also received “significant interest in branded content partnerships” for GSN, which will be activated following the relaunch of the brand’s website.
GSN has around 800,000 followers on its Facebook page and last year generated over £500,000 in revenues, a number Iconic believes it can “significantly improve”.
“Since acquiring GSN, we have been working on leveraging the strong position it already holds in its marketplace, as well as our in-house capabilities, to build on the platform's potential and make it a profitable business centre”, said Iconic’s chief executive, John Quinlan.
“Revenue is expected to grow following the launch of GSN's redesigned website and I look forward to updating shareholders as we progress", he added.
Turning a corner
After the close on Thursday, Iconic Labs reported its results for the 18 months ending 30 June 2019, which encompassed its transformation into a media group from a stem cell research firm previously known as WideCells.
David Sefton, the group’s chairman, said that while reworking the business from its previous focus towards social media had been “slower than anticipated” due to legacy issues, he asked that shareholders “bear with us while we complete the final parts of the transition and move the Company to where we and you want to go, that being a leading profitable new media and technology business”.
In the figures for the period, the company reported a pre-tax loss from continuing operations of £307,952, mostly as a result of administrative expenses. Losses from discontinued operations stood at £5.8mln.