In its first update following its AIM listing last month, online business service exchange provider Blur emphasised growth in exchange activity but its Q3 update did not include revenue numbers.
There is forward movement – the number of briefs passing through the exchange hit a new high of 215 vs 182 in Q2 and 76 in the year ago quarter. The majority came from the US for the first time, thus demonstrating the US focus that was already evident in Blur’s decision to report in US dollars. It has expanded the range of areas covered from marketing to design and technology, which will help the goal of scaling the business that the IPO was designed to support but will no doubt increase the cash burn rate. With H1 revenues of just $1.5m and rising yoy losses (see Blur to come into focus on AIM), an improvement in the revenue to loss ratio is needed. Although the metrics indicate upward movement, briefs are not sealed deals and with no revenue/earnings update performance remains opaque.
The company has bought some industry heavyweights into the business to help steer it forward. Richard Bourne-Arton (owner of UK Hydro) and Robert Brooksbank (CFO of Carclo Plc) have joined as non-executive directors, and Strategic and Operational Advisory boards have been put in place that include figures like Archie Norman (Chairman ITV), Kevin Lomax (ex-CEO Misys), who were both angel investors, along with Tim Schoonmaker (ex-CEO Odeon Cinemas) and David Sola (MD Houlihan Lokey and ex-Softbank).