illumin Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results

Fourth Quarter Revenue shows Growth Across All Service Lines by 35% YoY to $49.9 Million. Full Year Revenue Grows 11% YoY to $140.4 Million. Self-Service Revenue Grew by 45% YoY for the Quarter and 78% for the Full Year. Adjusted EBITDA Improved by 42% YoY for the Quarter and 104% for the Full Year.

(All monetary figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated)

TORONTO – March 14, 2025 – illumin Holdings Inc. (TSX: ILLM and OTCQB: ILLMF) (“illumin” or the “Company”), a journey advertising technology company that empowers marketers to make smarter decisions about communicating with online consumers, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Highlights

• Revenue was $49.9 million, up 35% year-over-year, driven by increases across all three service lines.
• Self-service revenue was up 45% to $13.0 million, compared to $8.9 million in the year ago period and represented 26% of total revenue, up from 24% in Q4 2023.
• The Company onboarded 23 net new self-service clients during the quarter, reflecting sales initiatives targeting higher-spend clients and positioning the Company for continued self-service revenue growth.
• Managed service revenue was up 28% from the prior year to $23.7 million, increasing for the 3^rd consecutive quarter.
• Exchange services revenue increased by 39% from prior year to $13.2 million.
• Gross margin was 45%, compared to 49% for the same period in 2023, and was lower mainly due to product mix.
• Net revenue, or gross profit (revenue less media-related costs), was $22.7 million, compared with $18.0 million in the same quarter of the prior year.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $3.9 million, compared to $2.8 million in the prior year period. The increase was primarily attributable to higher revenue and a strengthened US dollar.
• Net income was $4.1 million, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million in Q4 2023. The increase was primarily a result of higher revenue and a net foreign exchange gain versus a loss in the prior year period, partially offset by higher costs.
• Cash and cash equivalents increased by $4.5 million, or 9%, from September 30, 2024, to $56.0 million.
• On December 23, 2024, the Company commenced a new normal course issuer bid (“2024 NCIB”) to purchase for cancellation up to 3,914,167 of its outstanding common shares. The 2024 NCIB replaces the previous NCIB (“2023 NCIB”), which expired on November 12, 2024. The Company did not purchase and cancel any of its outstanding common shares under either NCIB plan in the quarter.

Fiscal Year 2024 Highlights

• Revenue rose 11% year-over-year to $140.4 million.
• Self-service was up by 78% from the prior year to $38.4 million.
• Managed service decreased by 7% year-over-year to $67.7 million. The decline was limited by the efforts in the second half of the year, which showed significant growth in this service line.
• Exchange services increased by 8% from the prior year to $34.3 million.
• Gross margin was 47% compared to 48% for the prior year.
• Net revenue, or gross profit (revenue less media-related costs), was $65.5 million, compared to $60.3 million for the same period in 2023.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $6.3 million compared to $3.1 million for the prior year. The increase was primarily attributable to higher revenues, partially offset by higher operating costs.
• Net income was $0.9 million, compared to a net loss of $11.0 million in the prior year.
• During the year, the Company repurchased 3,310,384 of its common shares at an average price of $1.61 per share for total consideration of $5.3 million under the 2023 NCIB. No repurchases were made under the 2024 NCIB in the year.
• At December 31, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $56.0 million, compared to $55.5 million as of December 31, 2023. This increase was primarily attributable to a favorable foreign exchange impact on cash and cash equivalents, positive cash from operating activities before changes in working capital, and fluctuations in timing of non-cash operating working capital in the year. This was partially offset by the repurchase of the Company’s shares, investments in our technology platform, property and equipment, and payments on leases.

Simon Cairns, illumin’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We delivered strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter, which rose 35% year-over-year fueled by increases across all of our revenue lines. During the quarter, we continued to see considerable revenue growth in self-service, which grew 45% year-over-year. This also represents our third consecutive quarter of managed service growth, which increased 28% year-over-year. These results indicate that more companies are recognizing the value of both our managed service and self-service solutions. In addition, we continued to see substantial growth and momentum in our exchange services business, which increased 39% from the prior year.”

Mr. Cairns added, “As these results show, the customer-centric approach we implemented in the second half of 2024, which focuses on marketing and selling more effectively and efficiently, has proven to be very successful in helping us bring on new customers and expanding our relationships with existing clients. This approach lets us leverage our technology platform and offer our clients a full range of answers, whether it be self-service, managed campaigns, exchange services or a hybrid approach, if that best fits their evolving needs. Our results also showcase our success to date in advancing our illumin self-service roadmap and addressing operational efficiencies throughout our organization. We are extremely pleased with our progress to date and look forward to continuing this momentum in 2025.”

“As we advance into 2025, we know our first quarter is the toughest due to impacts of seasonally lower client spend-which is extra challenging this year due to more recent heightened economic instability.  As a management team, we’re focused on winning the year as we advance on our platform to drive leads through better marketing and a new brand strategy. We will deliver a quicker selling process to onboard customers, improve platform stickiness, and more effectively present a choice of options on how customers can be supported over their lifecycle with us.”

Elliot Muchnik, illumin’s Chief Financial Officer, commented, “During the fourth quarter, we reported a significant year-over-year increase in total revenue, reflecting growth in self-service, managed service and exchange services revenue, which helped drive a year-over-year improvement in Adjusted EBITDA of 42% and 104% for the quarter and year, respectively. As we look ahead into 2025, operational discipline remains a priority for us so we can further grow our Adjusted EBITDA while funding continued product development and expansion of our sales and marketing capabilities.”

The following table presents a reconciliation of Net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods ended:

Conference Call Details:

Date: Friday, March 14, 2024

Time: 8:30AM Eastern Time

To register for the conference call webcast and presentation, please visit https://events.illumin.com/q4-2024-earnings-call.

Please connect 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure time for any software download that may be needed to hear the webcast.  A recording of the conference call webcast will be available after the call by visiting the Company’s website at https://illumin.com/investor-information/.

Non-IFRS Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS Accounting Standard measures (“non-IFRS measures”). These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS Accounting Standards (“IFRS”), do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management’s perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. We use non-IFRS measures including “revenue less media-related costs”, “Gross margin”, and “Adjusted EBITDA” (as well as other measures discussed elsewhere in this press release).

The term “Gross margin” refers to the amount that “revenue less media-related costs” represents as a percentage of total revenue for a given period.  Gross margin is used for internal management purposes as an indicator of the performance of the Company’s solution in balancing the goals of delivering excellent results to advertisers while meeting the Company’s margin objectives and, accordingly, the Company believes it is useful supplemental information.

“Adjusted EBITDA” refers to net income (loss) after adjusting for finance costs (income), impairment loss, fair value gain, income taxes, foreign exchange loss (gain), depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, acquisition and related integration costs, severance expenses and adjustments to the carrying value of investment tax credits receivable. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of the results generated by the Company’s main business activities before taking into consideration how those activities are financed and taxed and prior to taking into consideration depreciation of property and equipment and certain other items listed above. It is a key measure used by the Company’s management and board of directors to understand and evaluate the Company’s operating performance, to prepare annual budgets and to help develop operating plans.

These non-IFRS measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We believe that securities analysts, investors, and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers, and that these non-IFRS measures are relevant to their analysis of the Company.

About illumin:

illumin is evolving the digital advertising landscape by empowering marketers to achieve transformative results through its customer-centric approach. Featuring a unified canvas built around the open web, illumin lets brands and agencies seamlessly plan, build, and execute campaigns across the entire marketing funnel—connecting programmatic channels, email, and social media within a single platform. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, illumin serves clients across North America, Latin America, and Europe. For more information, visit illumin.com.

Disclaimer with regard to forward looking statements

Certain statements included herein constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies.  In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company’s belief that the NCIB is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders and that underlying value of the Company may not be reflected in the market price of the Shares.  Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, illumin does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

For further information, please contact:

Please note that the following financial information is an extract from the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (the “Financial Statements”) provided for readers’ convenience and should be viewed in conjunction with the Notes to the Financial Statements, which are an integral part of the statements. The full Financial Statements and MD&A for the period may be found by accessing SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com.

[1] Nasdaq-related costs are listing fees and directors’ and officers’ insurance specific to the Company’s Nasdaq listing and have been reclassed below Adjusted EBITDA as they are not recurring. The prior year numbers have been adjusted to conform to the current year presentation.