Live Company Group PLC (AIM:LVCG), the events company, saw revenues recover in 2021 but Covid-related restrictions continued to limit growth opportunities.
The BRICKLIVE events for which the company is perhaps best known were still affected by lockdown restrictions in the first half of the year while the Live Company Sports and Entertainment (LCSE) division, which was formed in December 2020, saw scheduled events cancelled for most of the year.
Revenue for the year rose to £2.67mln from £1.86mln in 2020, with the new LCSE division contributing £849,000 (2020: £nil) and BRICKLIVE contributing £1.83mln (2020: £1.86mln) - a fall of 3% resulting from a fall in fees paid by international licence partners due to the ongoing effects of Covid-19.
Underlying losses (EBITDA) before exceptional items narrowed to £1.70mln from £3.09mln in 2020.
At the year-end, the group had total cash balances of £211,000 (2020: £168,000) and total borrowings of £1.68mln (2020: £2.05mln) giving a net debt figure of £1.47mln (2020: £1.88mln).
“2021 was a tough year for everyone on a personal level. From a business perspective, many industries were hard hit - events being one of them - with several companies closing their doors forever. Restrictions in place continued to impact LVCG's opportunity for growth. In fact, as an events-based company, we were fortunate to still be operational during the second half of 2021. In spite of this LVCG was able to announce in December 2021 a new revenue stream for 2022 onwards – KPOP.Flex,” said David Ciclitira, the executive chair of Live Company.
READ: Live Company announces 2023 KPOP Festival dates
“LVCG's strategy going forward is to extend the KPOP.Flex concept into other cities in Europe and globally. The Frankfurt festival is a five-year contract, and all future contracts are envisaged to be long-term with multiple revenue streams in place. Frankfurt 2023 and London 2023 dates have been announced,” he added.