Published on June 17, 2018
NEW YORK, June 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc., (OTCQB: JMDA) (the "Company" or "Jerrick"), a technology company and the creators of Vocal, today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
Key Financial ResultsRevenues for first quarter 2018 were $16,249, resulting from the successful implementation of diversified and scalable streams, including branded content, microtransactions, and affiliated sales. Revenues, predominantly in beta mode, averaged over $5,000 monthly. No individual sale of branded content represented greater than 10% of total value. Over 250 microtransactions were completed and in excess of 1,450 affiliated sales were executed on Jerrick's Vocal platform.
Revenues remained consistent through April and doubled in May to near $11,500, while maintaining similar diversification month-over-month. The Company will maintain an accelerated rate of growth over the coming months, having already generated greater than $12,000 in revenues midway through the month of June. As indicated in its annual filing, the Company expects a material increase in compounded and total gross revenues during fiscal year 2018 as compared to fiscal year 2017. This increase is attributed to the broad release of the Vocal platform's revenue-generating features and technology, as well as the reactivation of legacy asset sales. These legacy sales had been deliberately curtailed in 2017 for a period of expansion and optimization of the underlying assets and their core value.
At the current rate of scale and marketing budget, the Company expects revenues to reach over $100,000 monthly before the end of fiscal year 2018. Rapid deployment of new features to the Vocal platform over the second half of 2018 should act as a catalyst for the Company's transition toward seven-figure monthly revenues by the end of 2019. The Company expects to break even or generate in excess of $345,000 of Vocal-related monthly revenues by mid 2019, in addition to expected one-time sales of legacy assets, including its archival image library, non-technology IP, and other non-core assets. Proceeds from asset sales will be allocated towards strengthening the Company's balance sheet and cash position. Negotiations regarding the sale of the legacy assets are ongoing and the Company will continue to update the investor community on any material developments.
Operating expenses for the first half of 2018 averaged over $440,000 monthly, resulting from specific short-term expenses incurred in this time period, including share-based payments, an increase in Jerrick's salesforce personnel, and elimination of accrued payables through June 2018. The Company expects to revert back to normalized operational expenses of less than $368,000 monthly on a go-forward basis, to maintain headcount at near current levels throughout fiscal year 2018, and is working towards reducing the cost per employee through operational efficiencies for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
Technology development is expected to represent greater than 35% of monthly expenses, in line with previous quarters. Jerrick and its development partner, Sydney-based Thinkmill, continue material discussions regarding the broad application of Jerrick's platform Vocal on an enterprise basis, as well as potential strategic partnerships or joint ventures involving white labeling Vocal's underlying proprietary technology.
"We built Jerrick based on the conclusion that significant investment in proprietary technology development is the only path to scalable revenues and increased business efficiencies. This fact has served us well," commented Jerrick founder and CEO Jeremy Frommer.
Key Operational Metrics
"Jerrick's expanding margins narrative represents a unique opportunity to invest in the revenues of its core technology platform, Vocal, as well as the underlying value of the Company's content library, legacy collection, and over 30 communities servicing more than 250,000 creators and growing," said Frommer. "With over three years and $15,000,000 of invested capital in Jerrick's technology, this year marked the transition from development of our flagship product Vocal to the implementation of Jerrick's business strategy of embedding scalable, revenue-generating features within the Vocal platform. Our technology has been validated and vetted by some of the brightest people I have met in the technology space. My management team and I will now shift our resources and focus as we leverage the platform and execute on sales."
"As our balance sheet continues to improve and platform metrics grow, it positions Jerrick for favorable costs of acquisition and increases our network of creators, audiences, and brands. Over the upcoming 12 months, the pace of user growth for Jerrick's Vocal platform should be exponential and the predictability of scalable revenues has become more accurate with compounding data. I expect Jerrick, along similar historical diversification of revenue streams, to generate near $100,000 in revenues for third quarter 2018 and in excess of $200,000 for fourth quarter 2018, excluding potential legacy asset sales. The pace of growth should remain consistent through the first and second quarters of 2019. Our current plan is to up-list JMDA before mid-2019, at which point monthly revenues should exceed $300,000, content creators should surpass 1,000,000, and network page views should climb to over 18,000,000 monthly."
Forward Looking Statements
Any statements that are not historical facts and that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, indicated through the use of words or phrases such as “will likely result,” “are expected to,” “will continue,” “is anticipated,” “estimated,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes” and “projects”) may be forward-looking and may involve estimates and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution that the factors described herein could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements we make and that investors should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of such factors. Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our results of operations or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. This press release is qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.