illumin Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Second Quarter Revenue of $33.1 Million up 13% YoY (All monetary figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated) TORONTO, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- illumin Holdings Inc. (TSX: ILLM and OTCQB: ILLMF) (“illumin” or the “Company”), the advertising technology platform that enables advertisers to see more and achieve more, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025. Second Quarter 2025 Highlights Second quarter 2025 revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $33.1 million, driven by growth in Exchange service and Self service revenue, partially offset by a decrease in Managed service revenue. Self service revenue was $9.2 million, representing 28% of total revenue and an increase of 5% compared with the year ago period.   The Company onboarded 31 new Self service clients during the quarter, reflecting sales initiatives targeting higher-spend clients and positioning the Company for continued long-term Self service revenue growth.   Managed service revenue was $10.9 million, down 24% year-over-year, reflective of a period where new client acquisition continued to be challenging and existing clients reduced spend. Exchange service revenue increased by 114% year-over-year to $13.0 million, driven by customer growth in this service line as well as increased volume of spend, largely due to improvements made in our platform AI and an expanded sales team. Gross margin was 43%, reflecting higher revenue in service lines with lower margins. Net revenue, or Gross Profit (revenue less media-related costs), was $14.4 million, up 3% compared with $14.0 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $1.0 million, compared to a profit of $0.5 million in the prior year period, primarily attributable to higher operating costs in Sales and marketing and Technology, partly offset by higher revenues with lower gross margins as a result of the product mix. Net loss was $5.8 million, compared to $1.0 million in Q2 2024. This was primarily a result of lower Adjusted EBITDA as mentioned above, a net foreign exchange loss versus a gain in the prior year period, and higher severance expenses as part of the organizational restructuring completed near the end of the quarter. During the quarter, the company launched its new AI forecasting tool to Self service customers as part of its platform. Launched mid-quarter, the tool has generated strong customer interest, with testing by over 60% of existing users and daily engagement from more than 20%. These figures align well with internal targets for driving future adoption, spend performance, and customer retention. On December 23, 2024, the Company commenced a new normal course issuer bid (“2024 NCIB”) for its common shares that will remain open until December 22, 2025, or such earlier time as the 2024 NCIB is completed or terminated at the option of the Company. For the three months ended June 30, 2025, the Company acquired 311,618 common shares at an average price of $1.76 per share for a total of $548,448. Simon Cairns, illumin’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “For the second quarter, we generated solid revenue growth of 13% year-over-year driven by strong growth in Exchange service revenue and steady performance in Self service revenue, supported by strong new logo adoption. In Exchange service, we have been very successful this year in creating and capturing new and recurring customer demand, due to targeted investments in technology and sales to strengthen our competitive position.” “Self service revenue growth remained firm in the second quarter, representing 28% of total revenue. We successfully onboarded 31 new Self service clients during the quarter, demonstrating the success of our sales initiatives targeting higher-spend clients as we see further progress in raising customer adoption, conversion and spend performance in this segment.” “For Managed service, we continued to see challenges that we saw in the first quarter. We are developing a solution that can stabilize this revenue line, as well as benefit Self service. Our plan is to implement in-market as quickly as possible.” “As we enter the second half of the year, we’re focused on a clear product differentiation strategy, pursuing our client acquisition strategy and expansion, and further streamlining operations to support our cost controls as we navigate a shifting market. Partly due to the changes we see in Managed service, we implemented a number of cost reduction and restructuring initiatives late in the quarter to enhance our profitability in the near term. These include changes throughout our management team, a reduction in our total workforce, and reprioritized planned investments in research and development, and marketing. We expect these initiatives will improve our financial profile, generate higher margins, and drive towards positive cash flow while still enabling us to focus on enhancing the customer lifetime value of our platform and our ability to generate platform returns over time.” Elliot Muchnik, illumin’s Chief Financial Officer, commented, “Our second quarter year-over-year revenue growth reflects another strong performance in Exchange service, as our targeted efforts to drive adoption and expand demand gained more traction. At the same time, during the quarter we took restructuring actions across the organization to reduce operating expenses and improve cash flow generation. Looking ahead, we remain focused on balancing cost management with investments in key growth initiatives to increase sales and produce meaningful progress in profitability.” The actions associated with the Company’s cost reduction and restructuring initiatives, net of planned growth within the salesforce and other critical areas, will have reduced the Company’s North American workforce by 10%. In addition, the Company will be decreasing its real estate footprint, reorganizing sales, marketing, and administrative activities to lower expenses while identifying efficiencies to drive sales and conduct operations more effectively. The Company expects to complete these initiatives by year-end. The following table presents a reconciliation of Net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods ended:   Three months ended Six months ended   June 30, June 30, June 30, June 30,     2025     2024     2025     2024   Net loss for the period $ (5,814 ) $ (1,014 ) $ (7,668 ) $ (2,152 ) Adjustments:         Finance income, net   (309 )   (469 )   (646 )   (975 ) Foreign exchange loss (gain)   1,557     (556 )   1,246     (1,942 ) Depreciation and amortization   1,491     1,387     2,873     2,752   Income tax expense (benefit)   (435 )   (491 )   (498 )   (113 ) Share-based compensation   1,053     1,108     1,790     1,807   Severance expenses   1,415     10     1,449     100   Nasdaq-related costs1   -     313     -     736   Other non-recurring expenses   61     227     61     316   Total adjustments   4,833     1,529     6,275     2,681   Adjusted EBITDA $ (981 ) $ 515   $ (1,393 ) $ 529                             (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. Conference Call Details: Date: Thursday, August 7, 2025 Time: 8:30AM Eastern Time To register for the conference call webcast and presentation, please visit: https://events.illumin.com/q2-2025-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, adjustments to the carrying value of investment tax credits receivable, and other non-recurring items. 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.  Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.  Except as required by law, the Company 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: Steve Hosein Investor Relations illumin Holdings Inc. 416-218-9888 x 5313 [email protected]   David Hanover Investor Relations – U.S. KCSA Strategic Communications 212-896-1220 [email protected]       Please note that the following financial information is an extract from the Company’s Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 (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. illumin Holdings Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) (In thousands of Canadian dollars)     June 30, 2025   December 31, 2024   Assets                   Current assets         Cash and cash equivalents   $ 48,267   $ 55,952   Accounts receivable     29,621     44,650   Income tax receivable     400     613   Prepaid expenses and other     3,283     2,864                   81,571     104,079   Non-current assets         Other assets     112     115   Property and equipment     7,595     7,406   Intangible assets     12,638     9,352   Goodwill     4,870     4,870                   106,786     125,822             Liabilities                   Current liabilities         Accounts payable and accrued liabilities     29,028     39,148   Income tax payable     78     137   Borrowings     -     48   Lease obligations     885     1,513                   29,991     40,846   Non-current liabilities         Deferred tax liability     -     1,241   Lease obligations     4,373     4,702                   34,364     46,789             Shareholders’ equity     72,422     79,033                   106,786     125,822             illumin Holdings Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss (Unaudited) (In thousands of Canadian dollars, except share amounts) For the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024   Three months ended Six months ended                     2025                     2024                     2025                     2024             Revenue $                 33,124   $                 29,204   $                 62,205   $                 54,156             Media-related costs                   18,771                     15,244                     34,706                     28,571             Gross profit                   14,353                     13,960                     27,499                     25,585             Operating expenses         Sales and marketing                   7,471                     6,412                     14,819                     12,166   Technology                   4,689                     3,945                     9,027                     8,030   General and administrative                   4,650                     3,638                     6,556                     6,012   Share-based compensation                   1,053                     1,108                     1,790                     1,807   Depreciation and amortization                   1,491                     1,387                     2,873                     2,752                                 19,354                     16,490                     35,065                     30,767             Loss from operations                   (5,001 )                   (2,530 )                   (7,566 )                   (5,182 )           Finance income, net                   (309 )                   (469 )                   (646 )                   (975 ) Foreign exchange loss (gain)                   1,557                     (556 )                   1,246                     (1,942 )                               (1,248 )                   (1,025 )                   600                     (2,917 )           Net loss before income taxes                   (6,249 )                   (1,505 )                   (8,166 )                   (2,265 )           Income tax expense (benefit)                   (435 )                   (491 )                   (498 )                   (113 )           Net loss for the period                   (5,814 )                   (1,014 )                   (7,668 )                   (2,152 )                     Basic and diluted net loss per share                   (0.11 )                   (0.02 )                   (0.15 )                   (0.04 )           Other Comprehensive Loss                   Items that may be subsequently reclassified to net loss:         Exchange gain (loss) on translating foreign operations                   15                     (144 )                   (373 )                   (308 )           Comprehensive loss for the period                   (5,799 )                   (1,158 )                   (8,041 )                   (2,460 )                           illumin Holdings Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) (In thousands of Canadian dollars) For the six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024               2025               2024   Cash provided by (used in)                   Operating activities         Net loss for the period   $                 (7,668 )   $                 (2,152 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash flows         Depreciation and amortization                     2,873                       2,752   Finance income, net                     (646 )                     (975 ) Share-based compensation                     1,790                       1,807   Foreign exchange loss (gain)                     1,246                       (1,942 ) Severance expense                     1,449                       -   Income tax expense (benefit)                     (498 )                     (113 ) Change in non-cash operating working capital         Accounts receivable                     14,553                       5,740   Prepaid expenses and other                     (432 )                     1,032   Other assets             4                       (2 ) Accounts payable and accrued liabilities                     (12,940 )                     (893 ) Income taxes paid, net                     (534 )                     (166 ) Interest received                     813                       1,068                                   10                       6,156             Investing activities         Additions to property and equipment                     (1,177 )                     (1,042 ) Additions to intangible assets                     (4,858 )                     (2,465 )                                 (6,035 )                     (3,507 )           Financing activities         Repayment of international loans                     (52 )                     (65 ) Payment of leases                     (1,034 )                     (1,129 ) Repurchase of common shares for cancellation                     (548 )                     (4,033 ) Proceeds from the exercise of stock options                     188                       4                                   (1,446 )                     (5,223 )           Decrease in cash and cash equivalents                     (7,471 )                     (2,574 )           Impact of foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents                     (214 )                     (1,297 )           Cash and cash equivalents – beginning of period                     55,952                       55,455             Cash and cash equivalents – end of period                     48,267                       51,584             Supplemental disclosure of non-cash transactions         Adjustments to property and equipment under leases                     -                       (23 ) Unpaid additions (reversals) to property and equipment, net                     313                       (561 ) Unpaid taxes on share repurchase                     -                       (81 )