Ocean Outdoor gearing up for strong recovery after FY20 loss

“We have never stood still. We have not only protected our core businesses across all territories, but developed or won incremental assets and contracts to accelerate growth,” states Tim Bleakley, CEO, Ocean Outdoor.

Ocean Outdoor, a leading operator of premium DOOH advertising in the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Germany, saw its billings (advertising spend by the advertiser, including fees directly payable by the advertiser to their advertising agency, exclusive of sales tax) for the year ended December 31, 2020 decline to £104.7m from £135.1m in FY19, as per the company’s financial results that have been released. The DOOH major has reported a pre-tax loss of £182m in FY20, compared to a loss of £6.2m in 2019.

The revenue generated by the business in the year totalled £86.2m (FY19: £104.0m), while the company booked a one-off impairment charge of £142m related to the impact of the pandemic.

Ocean Outdoor expects a strong recovery in the current year, having gained momentum with: 

• Announcement of a sealed bid auction ahead of COP26 later this year for brands wanting to appear on Ocean's large format DOOH screens across Edinburgh and Glasgow
• Exclusive UK digital content deal with BT Sport to broadcast next day UEFA Champions League match clips across 7 key cities as live sports return in the UK 
• Expansion of Ocean Netherlands media partnership with Dutch Olympic team ahead of Tokyo 2021
• Launch of Amsterdam's First Digital Creative Competition 
• Launch of 28 new digital screens at Oslo bus station, one of Norway's busiest transport locations.

 Tim Bleakley, CEO, Ocean Outdoor, commented, "Throughout the period Ocean Outdoor has continued to invest in its platforms and products to prepare for the impending recovery. With a strong balance sheet and growth opportunities in every area of our operations, our focus is now on the speed of that recovery as restrictions are lifted.

"We have never stood still. We have not only protected our core businesses across all territories, but developed or won incremental assets and contracts to accelerate growth, strengthening Ocean's network proposition in key areas such as content partnerships, new technology and brand experiences to maximise every opportunity for advertisers as they return. Momentum is building and the investments we have made means Ocean is exceptionally well placed to reach and engage with highly receptive, liberated outdoor audiences at scale. We have a strong underlying business, we are well set for the recovery and we are already engaged in the fight back."