LBi - the global digital marketing and technology agency today announces its third quarter results 2009



Strategy and organisational redesign continue to pay off, margins
advance towards pre-crisis levels


Third quarter highlights
Net sales came in at EUR 33.8 million, in line with the second
quarter 2009 , impacted by seasonality effects in the Central and
Southern Europe and Scandinavia.

Good sequential growth in adjusted EBITDA to EUR 4.8 million from the
second quarter 2009, reflecting a strong adjusted E BITDA margin
improvement from 13.1% to 14.2% as a result of more retained
strategic engagements, effective organisational redesign and
implemented cost efficiency measures.

Non recurring (non cash) goodwill (and intangibles) impairment charge
of EUR 68.9 million as a result of economic downturn and consequently
lower than expected performance of historic acquired entities, mainly
the reversed merger of LB Icon and Framfab
(all share deal) in 2006.

Including the (non cash) impairment charge earnings per share came in
at EUR 1.11 negative.

Looking ahead
Consistent evidence in US and U K markets of strong inbound activity
and new business.

Hesitant recovery in European markets, but signs that conditions are
starting to improve with anticipated visible topline impact as of
the first quarter of 2010.

Continued search for suitable acquisitions that extend service
offering and drive sell opportunity.

Focus on strategic engagements, utilizing cross selling opportunities
and increasing operating efficiencies aimed at building the
full-service digital agency best equipped to serve global accounts.

Financial highlights

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|EUR million             |Jul- |Apr- |Jul-Sep|Change at|Jan- |Jan- |Change at|
|                        |Sep  |Jun  |2008   |constant |Sep  |Sep  |constant |
|                        |2009 |2009 |       |rates*   |2009 |2008 |rates*   |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|Net sales               |33.8 |34.3 |41.0   |-15.1%   |102.9|121.1|-13.2%   |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|EBITDA                  |4.5  |4.5  |6.0    |         |9.0  |15.7 |         |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|EBITDA adjusted**       |4.8  |4.5  |6.0    |-20.7%   |13.1 |14.3 |-8.9     |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|EBITDA margin adjusted**|14.2%|13.1%|14.7%  |         |12.7%|11.8%|         |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|Impairment              |-68.9|-    |-      |         |-68.9|-    |         |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|EBIT                    |-66.7|2.8  |4.1    |         |-65.6|8.9  |         |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|Net result              |-68.3|2.2  |3.0    |         |-68.7|5.1  |         |
|------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------|
|Earnings per share      |-1.11|0.04 |0.05   |         |-1.10|0.08 |         |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

* Change rates reflects year-on-year comparisons, adjusted for
exchange rate fluctuations
** January-September 2009 excludes EUR 4.1 million restructuring
costs. January-September 2008 excludes a EUR 1.4 million non cash
gain during Q 1 2008 on dissolvement of three dormant entitities in
the Netherlands, whose businesses have been transferred to LBi Lost
Boys.
SEK are used as functional currency in the LBi Group and EBITDA
margins and other growth measures are calculated from SEK.


A word from the CEO
As expected business has been picking up from the low levels we saw
in the first half of 2009. In the third quarter we have therefore
been able to further improve our operating performance. The
organisational redesign and extended service offer implemented in the
first quarter have helped us increase our EBITDA by 2.0% compared to
the second quarter and by 25.9% compared to the first quarter 2009 at
constant rates. As a consequence, our third quarter EBITDA margin
improved from 13.1% in the second quarter to 14.2% in the third
quarter, advancing back towards pre crisis levels.

The operating performance improvement recorded in the third quarter
and over the course of the year illustrates the effectiveness of the
restructuring and legitimises the increased focus on higher margin
and retained strategic engagements. Therefore, we continue to
prioritise relationships that deliver long term visibility, where we
have the opportunity to manage the entire digital channel and thereby
improve our quality of earnings. We believe that this strategy better
positions us for long term sustainable top line growth as the market
recovers.

In the most mature markets, the US and UK, we are seeing the benefits
of this disciplined approach. In both these regions there is
increasing evidence of improved sentiment and as a consequence of our
strategy we are now driving significant improvement in both the top
and bottom line. In the UK we saw a sound top line improvement of
2.6% compared to the second quarter and 12.7% compared to the first
quarter of 2009 at constant rates, which we believe represented the
bottom of the UK market for digital & advertising services. This
growth in the UK specifically has been delivered as a consequence of
our differentiated offer and the increasing trend to consolidate
digital spend into the larger more mature full-service agencies. This
also contributed to the strong EBITDA improvement of 12.5% compared
to the second quarter and 28.6% compared to the first quarter 2009 at
constant rates.

In the US we are seeing similar positive trends. The evolution of the
integrated full service offer is however a little less mature in this
market and as a result the top line has increased by 6.7% compared to
the second quarter and by 13.1% compared to the first quarter of 2009
at constant rates. The revenue synergies achieved via the combination
of LBi Special Ops Media and LBi Icon Nicholson, effective from 1
January 2010 are anticipated to accelerate topline growth next year.
The strong EBITDA improvement of 31.3% compared to the second quarter
and 75.0%  compared to the first quarter 2009 at constant rate has
been driven by both a rationalisation of the client portfolio and
implementation of a cost reduction programme enabled by the
combination of our NY operations.

In Central and Southern Europe and Scandinavia the story is country
specific. Overall, the recovery is more hesitant with a lagging top
line and margin development. In the third quarter, performance in
these regions is typically impacted by seasonality and the high
proportion of holiday entitlement in the period. However, the recent
increase in the size of the weighted funnel suggests that conditions
are starting to improve. In the fourth quarter we expect to further
improve margins in these regions as a consequence of better cross
selling and a reduced reliance on more expensive new business
development. We do however not anticipate any meaningful improvement
in the top line until the first quarter of 2010.

Obviously, the one-off impairment announced today which is mainly
related to an all share transaction between LB Icon and Framfab back
in 2006 at the height of the market, does not affect our cash
position nor our financial flexibility. The current economic reality
requires us to restate the goodwill to a more realistic level. We
continue to have conversations with a number of companies that allow
us to both futureproof and intelligently extend our global service
proposition.

Luke Taylor, CEO

Anhänge

LBi Q3 2009.pdf