NEWS18 June 2009
UK— Online targeted advertising firm Phorm slipped deeper into the red last year, with an operating loss of £30.6m compared to £20.1m in 2007.
Figures show the firm did not generate any revenue over the course 2008 and monthly cash outflow was £1.1m. However the company said it looked to the future “with great optimism”.
CEO Kent Ertugrul said the deployment of Webwise, its targeted advertising software, was taking “longer than originally anticipated” in the UK, but discussions were ongoing with ISPs in 15 other countries – including eight of the world’s “most lucrative” online ad markets. It is also being trialled in Korea.
Ertugrul said: “Although considerable time has elapsed between announcements with our ISP partners, much work continues to be done in the background.”
To combat 2008’s losses, Phorm said it had made “reductions in headcount, salaries, professional fees and other general and administrative costs” during the final quarter. US operations were scaled back and core operations were centralised in the UK. A spokesman for the company said it would not go into any further detail about how many jobs were cut.
Last week, the firm raised £15m through a share offering to help fund the roll-out of Webwise.