Blinkx books Olympic quadruple jump in earnings

Video search engine Blinkx has said it expects to deliver a 400 per cent increase in earnings per share thanks in part to boosts from the London Olympics and the US presidential election.

Blinkx, which powers video search on AOL.com and was spun out of Autonomy in 2007, said basic earnings per share of 4.4 US cents for the year to March 31st 2013, up from 1.1 cents the prior year.

Bolstered by the integration of 2011 acquisitions PVMG and Burst, revenues are expected to increase 71% to around $196m, ahead of the previously upgraded range of $180-185m, with pre-tax profits, including one-time events, increasing from $1.9m to roughly $15m.

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As well as the one-off advertising spending boost driven by the Olympics and US presidential elections, Blinkx attributed the outperformance to previous acquisitions and strong growth in the broader online advertising industry in general and video advertising in particular.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Mukherjee acknowledged it was an exceptional year for the company.

"Widespread broadband adoption, proliferation of connected devices and the accelerating consumption of video content online continue to fuel the growth of the industry.

"This sector momentum, along with one-time events, strengthening fundamentals of the business and the effective integration of the acquisitions have been critical to our success and growth this year."

Blinkx, whose net cash at year-end is expected near $55m, expects to announce its full-year results for the year to March 31st on May 13th.

Analyst Paul Richard at house broker Numis said he believed that "structural growth in online video advertising is inexorable and we expect very robust industry growth into the medium/long term."

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