Revenue Dip, Profit Jump for Comscore

Comscore has reported preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020. Q4 revenue fell some 5.5% to $90.0m, but profits rose - adjusted EBITDA was up around 70% in Q4 to $9.4m, and for the year as a whole rose dramatically.

The Q4 EBITDA figure includes a $2.0m one-time non-cash reduction to cost of revenues related to a revenue-share arrangement.

For the full year 2020, revenue fell 8.4% to $356.0m, and the company declared a net loss of $47.9m, compared to $339.0m in 2019. Even after allowing for a 2019 impairment charge of $241.6m, this means losses were halved: and adjusted EBITDA for the whole of 2020 soared to $32.3m from $6.2m in 2019.

CEO and Executive Vice Chairman Bill Livek (pictured) said the firm had shown 'resilience and a strong focus on operating performance during a challenging time', noting 'continued improvement in many areas of the business'. Initiatives launched in 2020 included a number targeted at the beleaguered movie theatre sector, a key focus of Comscore and in particular of Livek's original firm Rentrak.

Livek says Comscore also aims to complete its previously announced investment transactions next week, following a stockholder vote tomorrow (Tuesday March 9th). In a call on 8th January discussing the deal with new strategic investors Charter, Qurate and Cerberus, Livek said Comscore would be able 'to eliminate substantially all of its outstanding debt, both the Starboard Value and its outstanding term note'; and noted that he expects the Charter partnership 'to result in accelerating revenue growth before the end of 2021'.

Web site: www.comscore.com .