Hi all,
Here’s the Q1 company update (as always, the below information is confidential, so please don’t share it externally).
Lots of positivity coming out of Lisbon last week.
Q1 headlines
We have the Q1 numbers ready to report and there’s mixed news. Our June and July turnover is significantly stronger than the respective months in 2025, which gave us a strong start to the year from a billing perspective.
However, although it was our biggest month of FY26-27 so far, Aug 26 was actually down on Aug 25 billing (the amount we invoiced) by £80k.
That means that after the first quarter, we are £105k up on last year for turnover and while that is certainly positive, we are short of the £2m per quarter needed to hit the £8m turnover target.
- FY26-27 Q1 revenue: £1.74k
- FY25-26 Q1 revenue: £1.64k
Target tracking: turnover
Following on from the above, if the remaining 3 quarters produced the same TO total, we are tracking to around the same £7m mark as FY25-26
But it is important to remember that last year (and traditionally) Q1 is our weakest quarter of the FY, so there are reasons to be optimistic we can make up that turnover gap to hit £8m
Target tracking: EBITDA
Similarly, we have ground to make up on hitting the minimum EBITDA target of £750k.
It is too early to make an accurate prediction of where we are tracking as we had a lot of client and business costs land in Q1 that have impacted on EBITDA.
This is an area that we can all contribute to by paying attention to and carefully looking after every £ spent as a business to help improve EBITDA.
The picture will be clearer at the end of Q2 (Sep-Nov), so I will be able to better report on EBITDA tracking at the end of the calendar year.
Summary
There are plenty of reasons to be positive, with an improvement vs the same stage last year - even if we are currently behind target, we are still growing Y-o-Y.
How will we hit the target?
It will require everyone’s combined efforts to maximise and add new revenues. We have a number of significant warm leads and ready-to-go clients, while we have added and bedded in a new service in Creative that is generating a lot of interest and bringing previously untapped opportunity and revenue. A big push between now and Christmas can get us right back on track.
SBC a success
SITA was out in force across a range of teams for a productive week in Lisbon resulting in a large and varied number of leads from the show. The hard work starts now in converting as many as possible.
We are also attending a range of upcoming industry events, including Leaders Week in London, Brighton SEO and a few smaller iGaming ones before the end of the year.
We also have a couple of new biz-focused days at Cheltenham Racecourse, including this month’s October Showcase meeting which features The squareintheair.com Handicap Chase, our annual sponsored race.
SITA rebrand
I’m thrilled with the rebrand – it has seen us lay down a real marker in the sector and beyond, delivering a huge injection of energy across the business. And we’ve had some excellent feedback, with many of us out in Lisbon reporting lots of positive sentiment.
The roll out has also been excellent, especially in the office, with the space transformed – the design team deserve a large amount of credit for an excellent job.
Finally, our merch order is on its way – everything is scheduled to be dispatched this week and due to come by mid-October, other than the backpacks which are a few weeks behind but will be here ASAP.
HR updates
Welcome to Shannon Casson, who joined us last month as Project Coordinator. She is based with the video team in Manchester but also working closely with the creative team.
Last week was Amy Siziba’s last day as our Credit Controller, with her departure bringing about changes in our accounts team. Our long-term partner Marshall & Co are taking on a lot of extra responsibility working alongside our CFO Eric Marshall. Chloe Bonnor is our main contact and will oversee everything with day-to-day support from Jane Sanders and Katie Watson in her team. Chloe has worked with SITA for many years and a number of you will have met her at our 18th party.
Training
As everyone will have seen and benefitted from, we have increased our commitment to training over the past 18 months.
In recent weeks, the management team has been evaluating our various training courses and programmes to understand what has worked well and can be improved. Next up is a responsible gambling webinar that everyone will take part in on the afternoon of Wednesday 18th November. Robin will follow up with more details.
Individual departments are assessing future needs for their teams but if you have a suggestion for training, please let your team director or Annette know.
Xmas on the horizon
Summer’s only just behind us but Christmas is fast approaching and we are finalising plans for this year’s party, which we expect will be in early-to-mid December.
As the holiday allowances run by calendar year, please make sure you have confirmed any travel plans with your team director and that you have booked up your remaining holiday allowance as this cannot be carried into next year.
New SITA monthly newsletter
Finally, we will be shortly publishing the first in a new series of SITA internal monthly newsletters. This will share relevant information on a more regular basis than my quarterly emails, covering some lighter topics, while recognising milestones and highlights. Tom Marriott has driven the idea and may be in touch with certain people or teams for assistance. Otherwise, look out for the first one in the coming weeks!