Jul 23, 2019

AIM-listed digital marketing technology company Mporium Group plc has appointed Tom Smith as its new CEO and provided an update on its restructuring plans. Smith, who succeeds Nelius De Groot, has joined the board with immediate effect. He joined Fast Web Media in 2008, which was acquired by Mporium in 2015 and sold earlier this month. Smith became Head of MporiumX on its launch in November 2018 and has been Managing Director of the Group since June 2019. De Groot will remain with the Company as a Non-Executive Director until the end of August. Mporium has also announced it expects the restructuring plan for the business to be completed by the end of this month. Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2018 was down 54% to £0.91m (2017: £1.98m) as the company failed to achieve sufficient business from its Agency division and Fast Web Media generated significant losses. The Group made an operating loss of £7.73m in 2018, compared to a loss of £3.87m in the previous year. In June it raised £1.9m from a share issue to help it restructure the business and provide working capital (see Mporium raises £1.9m for restructure ). In July it sold Fast Web Media to International Agency Group for a nominal consideration of £7,500. The restructure will see Mporium concentrate on its MporiumX division, which uses it proprietary IMPACT technology to drive digital advertising campaigns on a pay-for-performance basis, and narrow its focus to specific business sectors, including the sports and consumer regulation sectors, and license its IMPACT platform through a self-service offering. 2018 was a very difficult year for the business, but management states it has made encouraging progress with its restructure and is confident the leaner structure will drive growth. In April it reported total revenues booked to the end of February 2019 exceeded £5.4m, with MporiumX accounting for 95%.