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Audioboom Group plc

("Audioboom", the "Group" or the "Company")

Half-Year Report

Record H1 - 80% adjusted EBITDA profit growth and 30% revenue growth

Audioboom (AIM: BOOM), the leading global podcast company, is pleased to announce its unaudited half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2026.

Financial and operational KPIs

·   H1 adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ profit of US$3.2 million, up 80% on H1 2025 (US$1.8 million), highlighting the continued strong performance of the business, with adjusted EBITDA profit expected to continue to be a proxy for cash generation going forward

·    H1 gross profit of US$9.9 million, up 33% on H1 2025 (US$7.4 million), representing a gross margin of 22% (H1 2025: 21%)

·    H1 revenue of US$45.7 million, up 30% on H1 2025 (US$35.1 million)

·   Continued strong growth of Showcase - our tech-based global advertising marketplace - with H1 revenue of US$18.6 million, up 60% on H1 2025 (US$11.6 million)

·   Q2 average monthly distribution of 183 million downloads and video views, up 84% on Q2 2025 (100 million)

·   Group cash at 30 June 2026 of US$5.4 million (30 June 2025: US$2.5 million), with a further US$3.3 million available via an overdraft facility. In addition to the overdraft facility, the Company has reached agreement in principle with HSBC on a new revolving credit facility of up to US$10.0 million to support the Group's growth strategy, with the facility expected to complete in the coming weeks

·    More than US$81.0 million of booked revenue for 2026 as of 14 July 2026 - ahead of total 2025 revenue (US$80.4 million), with our seasonally highest-demand period ahead

H1 2026 and post period commercial highlights

·    Launch of partnerships with Spotify and Apple, which will support the development of Audioboom's video monetisation engine through expanded advertising and subscription opportunities, with technology integrations to support these partnerships expected to be live in H2 2026

·    New signings in the first half of the year have expanded the Audioboom Creator Network with the addition of tier one content partnerships including Crooked Media, RedHanded, Hear Me Out, Evolution of a Snake and Swindled

·    Confirmed the deferred consideration payable for the acquisition of Adelicious Limited - relating to its 2025 revenue - of £0.9 million (30% of the maximum £3.0 million potentially payable). No contingent consideration (potentially £2.5 million) was payable. Total consideration paid, net of escrow account retention, is £4.53 million, against a maximum potential consideration of £10.0 million

·    In June, the Company concluded a strategic review process, which had commenced on 3 October 2025 (the "Strategic Review"). Discussions with three interested parties were terminated after the Board determined that the three indicative offers received undervalued the Company and its prospects, particularly given the Company's accelerating performance during the current financial year

⁽¹⁾ Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payments, non-cash foreign exchange movements, material one-off items, and onerous contract provisions and losses incurred

Stuart Last, CEO of Audioboom, commented:

"We continue to execute our growth strategy with discipline and consistency, delivering an exceptional first half of the year and demonstrating the operating leverage in our platform business as revenue increased by 30% while adjusted EBITDA grew by 80%.

This performance has been driven by several important milestones. One year on from the acquisition of Adelicious, we have significantly expanded our position in the UK market, deepened relationships with leading creators and advertisers, and delivered meaningful synergies across the combined business. It is a strong proof-of-concept for our acquisition-led growth plans.

Our Showcase advertising marketplace continued its rapid expansion with revenue 60% higher than a year ago. Showcase delivers greater monetisation for creators while providing advertisers with efficient access to premium podcast inventory at scale. The growth of this product reinforces our transition from a podcast network to a scalable technology-driven platform.

During the period, the Company completed its Strategic Review during which a number of proposals to acquire the Company were received. The Board concluded that the offers received did not adequately reflect the strength of Audioboom's operating performance, growth trajectory or long-term value creation opportunity. In addition, a number of potential acquisition opportunities were reviewed which ultimately did not meet our M&A criteria to deliver shareholder value. With the Strategic Review now concluded, management is fully focused on continuing the acquisition-led growth strategy outlined last year, supported by the Company's strong balance sheet and imminent access to a revolving credit facility of up to US$10.0 million, proven integration capabilities and expanding platform economics.

The momentum we have built during the first half of 2026 provides us with confidence for the remainder of the year, and with more than US$81.0 million of revenue booked for 2026 we are already ahead of last year's total revenue and are fully focused on maximising growth through the second half of the year. Our investments in technology, strategic acquisitions and premium creator partnerships continue to strengthen our competitive position, and we remain focused on delivering sustainable profitable growth while creating greater value for creators, advertisers and shareholders."

Enquiries

About Audioboom

Audioboom is a global leader in podcasting - our shows are downloaded more than 180 million times each month by 58 million unique listeners around the world. Audioboom is ranked as the fifth largest podcast publisher in the US by Edison Research.

Audioboom's ad-tech and monetisation platform underpins a scalable content business that provides commercial, distribution, marketing and production services for a premium network of top tier podcasts. Key partners include the official Formula 1 podcasts 'F1: Beyond the Grid' and 'F1 Nation', 'True Crime Obsessed' (US), 'The Tim Dillon Show' (US), 'No Such Thing As A Fish' (UK) and 'The Cycling Podcast' (UK).

Audioboom operates internationally, with global partnerships across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The platform distributes content via Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Facebook and Twitter as well as a partner's own websites and mobile apps. 

For more information, visit audioboom.com

Chief Executive's Report

Strategy and Business Model

Audioboom powers podcasting - our platform connects creators, brands and audiences - creating value across the industry. Since 2018, we have generated almost US$400 million in revenue for our podcast creators and helped thousands of brands in the delivery of half a billion dollars of advertising campaigns.

Creators are the heartbeat of the platform. Our technology enables more than 8,000 podcasters to manage their content publishing process, grow their audience, distribute to all major listening apps, and see insights into their audience with our data and analytics dashboard. This year we have signed new partnerships with Apple and Spotify to add video distribution and monetisation functionally to our platform, enhancing our tech and revenue options for creators.

Brands can access unique advertising options through Audioboom, including the Premium Network, our high-value ad-model in which the host of the podcast endorses products directly to their highly engaged audience. Showcase - our highly automated marketplace - enables brands to pinpoint their target audience at scale and with great efficiency through our ad-tech stack, and Sonic - our platform for brands - helps advertisers develop and execute campaigns across the podcast landscape.

Audioboom has increased its global scale significantly over the last twelve months with monthly downloads and video views in Q2 2026 of 183 million - up from 100 million in the same period last year. More than 58 million unique users consume content from Audioboom each month, and in 2026 we will create around 18 billion sellable advertising impressions.

Audioboom is the fifth largest podcast publisher in the US - the world's largest podcast market - on Edison Research's publisher ranker, while Podscribe ranked Audioboom as the number 1 network for video podcasting in the first half of 2026.

This network growth underpinned our excellent operational performance in H1 2026 in which revenue has grown by 30%. We created record volumes of advertising inventory and our monetisation engine delivered strongly - with pricing and fill rates at their highest ever levels. Our continued margin improvement and stable opex ensured revenue geared strongly to adjusted EBITDA, which at US$3.2 million was up 80% on H1 2025.

It is now almost a year since we completed the acquisition of Adelicious Limited - which we view as the initiation of our M&A driven platform growth plan. Results from this initial acquisition have been overwhelmingly positive with an acceleration of our market position in the UK and a seamless integration into the wider business. More importantly this transaction proved that our platform is primed to supercharge publishers and networks we bring to it through acquisition - examples of this success include an immediate 50% uptick in revenue on Adelicious podcasts in the three months immediately following the acquisition after connecting their content slate with Audioboom's monetisation engine. We also captured enhanced capabilities to support our UK advertising operations process, adding to our technology automation, and have realised material cost synergies through platform efficiencies - most clearly visible in our current headcount level, which at 44 is only two more than our pre-transaction headcount.

We are confident that further acquisitions will deliver similar positive results. Our M&A driven growth plan, as laid out to investors in H2 2025, is focused on targeting Group revenue in excess of US$200 million and adjusted EBITDA of more than US$40 million in 2030. We believe that this will require four to five further acquisitions alongside our organic growth, and our imminent revolving credit facility will provide the Company with access to US$10.0 million to support this strategy.

Management are now focused on executing this plan following the conclusion of the Company's Strategic Review. The Strategic Review wished to explore options available to the Board to enhance shareholder value, one of which included a possible sale of the business. During the process we engaged with more than 30 parties across the US and Europe, both strategic and financial.

Ultimately three parties submitted non-binding proposals to acquire Audioboom. All three proposals were conditional in nature and represented a premium to the prevailing share price of £5.40 immediately prior to the commencement of the offer period on 3 October 2025. However, the Board concluded that each of the proposals failed to reflect the full value of the Company, having regard to its strong financial performance during the first six months of the year, its growth trajectory, and the attractive long-term outlook for both the business and the podcast sector. The Board therefore concluded that Audioboom's shareholders are best served by supporting the Company's M&A-driven growth plan and ambition to capitalise on its leading market position in the US and UK podcast markets. In addition, a number of potential acquisition opportunities were reviewed during the Strategic Review which, ultimately, did not meet the Company's own M&A criteria to deliver shareholder value. The Company continues to work with its financial advisers on the ongoing review and evaluation of potential acquisitions, and while the Company is no longer in an offer period, the Board and the Company's advisers will continue to pursue any opportunity arising from the Strategic Review which will enhance and maximise shareholder value. The Company has incurred US$0.1 million of adviser costs in relation to the Strategic Review in H1 2026, and US$0.2 million in total.

The near-term path for Audioboom is therefore one of independence, strong organic growth and the continued exploration of acquisition opportunities that support our 2030 goals.

Financial Review

Group revenue in the first half of 2026 increased to US$45.7 million (H1 2025: US$35.1 million), with significant improvement recorded in gross profit, increasing by US$2.5 million to US$9.9 million (H1 2025: US$7.4 million), and adjusted EBITDA profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payments, non-foreign exchange movements, material one off items and onerous contract provisions and losses incurred), increasing by US$1.4 million to US$3.2 million (H1 2025: US$1.8 million). The total profit before tax in the first half of 2026 increased by US$1.8 million to US$3.1 million (H1 2025: US$1.3 million) with the business recognising the gearing effect of higher revenue and gross profit combined with a consistent operating cost base year on year.

Premium advertising revenue, in which leading podcast hosts endorse products and brands to their engaged audience natively within their shows, recorded 14% growth (H1 2026: US$22.3 million vs H1 2025: US$19.5 million). Showcase advertising revenue, generated from our automated ad tech-driven marketplace, recorded 60% growth (H1 2026: US$18.6 million vs H1 2025: US$11.6 million). Sonic Integrated Marketing, our brand platform focused on providing tools and services directly to podcast advertisers, recorded 21% growth (H1 2026: US$4.6 million vs H1 2025: US$3.8 million). Group gross margin improved to 22% (H1 2025: 21%) due to the increased contribution of higher gross margin Showcase revenue to total Group revenue (H1 2026: 41% vs H1 2025: 33%), partially offset by the impact of the Company utilising its share of advertising revenue to satisfy a small number of podcaster minimum guarantees.

The Company's well controlled operating costs have allowed it to recognise a significant increase in adjusted EBITDA - and therefore cash generation - over recent periods. That trend continued in the first half of 2026 with the Company reporting opex (excluding interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payments, non-cash foreign exchange movements and material one-off items) of US$6.7 million (H1 2025: US$5.7 million). Following the acquisition of Adelicious in July 2025, headcount increased from 42 pre-acquisition to 53 post-acquisition. In May 2026, the Company completed a headcount restructure to ensure maximum efficiency of staff going forward, with headcount reducing to 44, just two heads above the pre-acquisition headcount total. Total salary and commission costs increased by 20% (US$0.7 million) vs H1 2025 to US$4.5 million, due to both the increased headcount year on year (US$0.5 million additional cost) and the increased commission costs incurred (US$0.2 million additional cost) due to the 30% increase in revenue. With the restructure now complete, salary costs in the second half of the year will reduce. Due to the increase in H1 2026 in downloads, bandwidth and ad impression costs increased by 36% (US$0.4 million) versus H1 2025 to US$1.4 million. Other costs across the Company decreased by US$0.1 million to US$0.8 million.

Comparing H1 2026 with H1 2025, the increase in opex of 18% compared to the increases in revenue (30%) and gross profit (33%) demonstrate that Audioboom's operational gearing is now delivering a higher rate of adjusted EBITDA conversion rate for marginal revenue. The Company's current opex levels are sustainable, with modest variable increases in line with revenue growth, for the foreseeable future. The Company therefore expects to continue to generate cash and to retain cash for deployment into its M&A driven growth plan, along with access to up to US$10.0 million via a revolving credit facility and the issue of further equity to provide an attractive mix of consideration for businesses which Audioboom acquires in the future.

Cash held at 30 June 2026 of US$5.4 million increased by US$2.9 million from 30 June 2025 (US$2.5 million) and a further US$3.3 million was available via an overdraft facility. Cash collections continue to perform well thanks to our efficient internal processes with the Company recognising that there is a timing difference between paying revenue share to podcast partners, with our biggest podcast partners being paid on 30-day terms, and collecting cash from debtors, with agencies who typically pay between 60 and 90 days of receiving their invoice. We report a debtor day figure of 72, lower than both 31 December 2025 (89) and 30 June 2025 (80), with the expectation that this increases over the seasonally stronger second half of the year. Total cash collected in H1 2026 of US$43.5 million was 95% of revenue reported and US$7.4 million higher than H1 2025 (US$36.1 million). Operating cash inflow, before working capital movements, totalled US$2.8 million (H1 2025: US$0.5 million) with the improvement being due to the US$3.1 million net profit recorded in H1 2026 (H1 2025: US$1.3 million) and the Company having serviced both onerous contracts previously disclosed in 2025.

The Company continues to offer minimum guarantees to its roster of leading podcast talent. This remains a key feature of the US podcast industry and is central to the Company's ability to add new signings to the Audioboom Creator Network. The Company maintains a disciplined, well-informed process for offers to potential new signings and renewals with existing content partners, and has no concerns over its current minimum guarantee obligations, which it continues to monitor closely.

Outlook

Today Audioboom has more than US$81.0 million of revenue booked for 2026 - this is more than total 2025 revenue (US$80.4 million) and so, with almost half the year remaining, we are very well set to deliver significant growth.

Ahead of us we have the US Midterm elections, which will drive increased advertising demand and pricing across the US media space. Audioboom has built the strongest slate of political and news podcasts in the world - earlier this year we announced our partnership with prominent political network Crooked Media and, together with The Bulwark, Associated Press and a host of other independent podcasts, we now offer advertisers more than 500 million monthly advertising impressions in the political and news verticals. We are primed to take full advantage in the increased engagement from both audiences and advertisers this political season.

2026 will be a record year for Audioboom. Our small team continues to excel - delivering technology integrations, commercial partnerships and creator deals that drive profitable growth and create meaningful value for the business. Thank you to the Audioboom team for their continued commitment to building the world's best creator-focused podcast platform, and to our shareholders for their continued support.

Stuart Last

Chief Executive Officer