Charman's Address Immediately following the release of the...

Charman's Address

Immediately following the release of the capital restrictions, a special fully franked dividend of 5 cents per share was declared and paid. This dividend serves to recognise our loyal long-term shareholders for their patience over the years as we have worked to re-build the Group.

The Board also recognises the substantial value in the franking credit balance to shareholders
and are pleased to announce today that we are activating both interim and final dividends subject to ongoing Company profitability. We will implement a balanced approach between returns to shareholders, funding acquisition and investment opportunities as well as maintaining ade
quate cash reserves for our existing businesses.

CEO Address

Looking overseas, our international markets now represent 56% of the Group’s Operating EBITDA and are a vital earnings contributor. The UK had a particularly tough year as fallout from Brexit seriously affected economic confidence.

Turning to the US market, it received a boost in earnings contribution via the acquisition of Eastwick Communications which overall has been a great thing for Hotwire and for our Group.

Despite the challenges in the USA and UK over the past year, we continue to see both markets as providing great revenue opportunities for us into the future. These markets will remain an ongoing focus particularly from an acquisition perspective as we seek to build scale and capabilities, especially in the USA.

Turning now to the Australian market, our businesses here achieved a very respectable 6
% growth in Operating EBITDA even with a small revenue decline. BMF continues to consolidate its position as a leading Australian creative agency, and recently crowned as the ‘2017 Effectiveness Agency of the year’ at the highly respected EFFIE Advertising Effectiveness Awards. We were also pleased with the performance of the Naked Communications Australia which achieved a number of new business wins during the year, including Sigma Healthcare (AMCAL and Guardian Pharmacies) and some of the smaller Australian agencies have shown promising results.