Cupid Plan for Long Term After 2013 Losses
Cupid have reported a loss for 2013 and say they are focussing on long term revenues and customer experience for the future.
The Edinburgh-based company reported a loss of £7.9m, compared with a profit of £9.2m in 2012.
Their revenues at the end of December were £26.6m, the year before they were £26.7m.
Last year Cupid sold their casual brands, including benaughty.com and flirty.com, and said these will provide £26m of cash over the next three years.
Their new chief executive, Phil Gripton, said:
“After a year in which the business reached an inflection point, I have personally been able to review the business at every level. After completing this assessment of the Group, I have tremendous faith in the long-term future of Cupid plc.”
Gripton replaced Bill Dobbie at the end of a bad year, with a BBC investigation accusing Cupid of creating fake profiles in order to lure paying members back to the site.
A review by KPMG cleared them of these allegations, but said that Cupid’s staff were not clearly identified, which may have led to some confusion.
Gripton said: “We have a three-year strategic plan – to deliver significant growth and shareholder value by becoming a robust, scalable digital technology business. The business has a unique opportunity in this attractive space: there is a growing and fragmented market for Data AdTech and Digital Services propositions.
“Cupid will be successful in these dynamic fields because it owns an ever-growing pool of unique first party data produced by our core dating service, which we can monetise by using our efficient and cost effective digital operation, as well as my own background in the space.”
A few weeks ago, Cupid partnered with mobile search company Sprylogics, who own Poynt, to allow their users to plan and book events in-app.