blinkx eyes profit ahead of market forecasts

Video search engine, blinkx, said the Olympics and the US presidential elections boosted first half revenues and it now expects pre-tax profit ahead of market expectations for the period.

Profit before tax, including one-time costs and amortisation of purchased intangibles for the six months ended September 30th will be around $2.4m, ahead of market expectations. Revenues for the period will be around $80m.

Chief Executive Brian Mukherjee said: "This has been an exceptional first half for blinkx. The business has shown strong growth, driven by its underlying fundamentals in combination with the ahead-of-schedule integration of Burst and PVMG into the blinkx engine and increased advertising spend allocated to special events - specifically the summer Olympics and the US presidential elections."

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blinkx added that strong growth in video advertising and increased demand for watching videos online has also boosted its prospects for the full year.

"While these one-time events have provided us with a better-than-expected boost to revenues during the traditionally slower summer months, we anticipate revenues for the second half to be similar to the first half, resulting in a modest increase in our expectations versus consensus for the full year."

"There are powerful secular trends driving the growth of video advertising: the proliferation of broadband and connected devices, and the accelerating migration and consumption of video online. This market momentum underscores the vitality of the sector and our business model," the group added.

Based on its performance during the last six months and the fundamentals of the sector, blinkx said it is confident in the group's outlook for the rest of the year.

CJ