Notorious Communications Limited

Principal Activities Executive Summary At the beginning of the year (January 2nd 2024) we rebranded to Notorious Communications Limited, the rebrand was focused on asserting a clearer more confident position in the market. Notorious Communications is a fully independent media planning and buying agency, founded in 2019, initially incorporated with investor service support delivered by Goodstuff Holdings. The agency experienced a step change in the year bringing all the media buying in-house (previously done by Goodstuff) in preparation for further growth. We have built strong relationships across our diverse client base who fully supported this transition. The impact of this move is reflected in the annual turnover which increased to £15.6m (FY23: £4.3m). In the year we also expanded our service offerings to include Paid Search and Social generating £1.5m turnover, predominately from existing clients. This is a specific area of growth moving into FY25. Gross profit/Notorious Communications revenue was up 48% year on year to £1.7m (+£0.6m: 35% buying uplift, 36% new client wins, 30% organic client growth), this is way ahead of recorded UK Ad market revenue increase of 10.4% and in spite of the challenging economic environment which impacted the activity levels of new client pitching/wins in the year. Two of our new clients onboarded in the year, Whitworths and Morning Foods, expands our client base/expertise within the FMCG market. Cost base increase, predominantly driven by our investment in people (including the full year impact of new starters, weighted towards the end of FY23), as well as investment in tools and systems, raised annual costs by £0.5m to £1.3m (FY23: £0.8m) impacting Operating Profit margins. Operating Profit margins were 23% (FY23: 29%), remaining at healthy levels for the media sector. Balance sheet reserves increased to £0.8m, we are comfortably placed to meet all liabilities and support future growth plans. Risks and uncertainties The Board continually monitor our risks and uncertainties, in line with others in the industry, our key risks are fluctuating demand levels of clients, retaining key employees and cost inflation. We minimise our risk by having a diverse client base, being a good employer and constantly monitoring our working capital. Our exposure to any credit risk is low, mitigated by a robust credit control function (debtor days: 14), the debtors spread across numerous clients, as well as having a credit insurance policy in place. Our People We provide our partners with experienced teams of elite level talent and are therefore committed to employing the best people, investing in training and development to nurture, retain and bring the best out of our team. As a minimum all our team actively maintain their CPD training levels along with additional training to ensure the team excel in their specialisms, stay up to date with media trends and are able to advise clients to the highest standard. We promote a positive work/life balance for all employees. All our employees are paid fairly and share in our success via a bonus structure. Our commitment to our team as a fair employer is reflected in our staff retention rate of 94%. Our Commitment to Clients We are conscious of making decisions that benefit our clients first as well as contributing to a sustainable future for the planet and our industry. Our recently developed TCP: Transparency, Choice and Positivity proposition has been designed to emphasise: - Transparency of all income - Choice centred on client opportunities - Positivity linked to consciously funding higher integrity media environments with measurable sustainability impacts. In 2024 we won both national and international level recognition for excellence in effective outcomes winning industry awards for Park Christmas Savings campaign 2024. Looking ahead Management use Key Performance Indicators across the business to monitor performance, we feel this information is commercially sensitive so it has been omitted from this report. The Board remain fully focused to deliver further growth, into FY25 there is a strong focus on business development to build our brand further. There was a more positive start to H1 of FY25, increased pitch opportunities have already resulted in 3 new clients to date.