Out-of-home media company, oOh!media (ASX: OML), has upgraded its EBITDA forecast for the year ending December 31 on strong first half results.

The company recently announced it had renewed and extended its key contract with Kiwi Property, New Zealand’s largest listed property company, enabling it to rollout media assets across Kiwi Property’s portfolio of shopping centre assets across NZ.

As part of the contract oOh! is providing media solutions to six Kiwi Property shopping centres while also adding new state of the art digital formats in select locations.

New formats such as oOh!’s massive digital large format EVOKE screens, capable of broadcasting high-definition full motion video, are set to hang from the atrium of key Kiwi Property shopping centres such as Sylvia Park and bring a piece of Times Square to NZ shoppers.

oOh! will also introduce interactive touchscreen digital panels that will feature in select Kiwi Property centres.

It is anticipated that the company impacts over six million shopping visits a fortnight in shopping centres across the country.

CEO of oOh!, Brendon Cook, said this contract win increases the quality and spread of advanced retail media solutions across NZ.

“We are serious about transforming retail media in NZ with our $3 million investment into introducing new digital formats, upgrading existing inventory, and spreading our reach.

“We are well on track to position our NZ retail offering as a world leader in digital solutions, including full-motion video capability that has proven to deliver real engagement for clients in walk by and stand by environments like shopping centres.”

The company’s financial highlights include: revenue $124.1 million, up six per cent on prior comparative period (pcp); EBITDA $20.2 million, up 51 per cent on pcp; EBITDA margin 16.3 per cent, up from 11.4 per cent on pcp; reported net profit after tax (NPAT) $3.8 million, up 119 per cent on pcp; adjusted NPAT $8.5 million, up 124 per cent on pcp; adjusted earnings per share  5.7 cents per share, up 124 per cent on pcp; interim dividend per share fully franked of 2.8 cents per share; operating cash flow $11.9 million, up 36 per cent on pcp; net debt to EBITDA 1.3 times improvement of 41 per cent; strong balance liquidity to fund future growth; and digital revenues up 29 per cent of group revenues versus full year target of 30 per cent.

For the next financial year, the EBITDA forecast has been upgraded from $48.6 million to a range of $53 to $55 million.

“We have delivered a strong first half performance and made great progress executing against our strategy, particularly in rolling out our digital initiatives. This positions us well for long-term growth while at the same time maintaining our audience reaching leadership position,” said Cook.

“Importantly, by concentrating not only on topline revenue growth but also on portfolio contract management and greater leveraging of our assets, we have delivered stronger EBITDA and NPATA growth of 51 per cent and 124 per cent respectively.

“This has improved our EBITDA margin to 16.3 per cent of sales in the first half, compared to 11.4 per cent on the pcp.”

oOh!’s digital infrastructure rollout is on track and the successful execution of its digital strategy resulted in digital revenue growing to 29 per cent of group revenue for the six months ended June 30. This places the company in a strong position to meet and exceed the 30 per cent target set for the 2015 full year.

Cook said: “With our existing network of assets, we are driving innovation by making investments to digitise major sites such as Bourke Street in Melbourne that are at the highest end of revenue generation per site in the industry.

“Following from the success of our online products Hijacked.com.au and QView, we’re at the forefront of driving deeper consumer engagement through our recent launch of ShortPress, which targets small and medium businesses with our own content published online and via our Cafe and Fly digital assets.

“This delivers an integrated 360 degree online and offline offering to major clients wanting to reach what is a unique and valuable audience. This ensures our focus is on long term digital strategy; not just a digital site strategy which is a key difference in our approach.”

In the past six months, oOh!’s efforts on contract mix management has seen the rebalancing of its portfolio of contracts whilst also delivering a number of significant contract renewals, extensions of existing contracts and new contract wins to build a stronger sustainable margin.

Cook added: “oOh! is well positioned through our strong portfolio of both static and digital assets across road, fly, retail and place.

“Our roadside inventory, with 1000 metropolitan and 3000 regional sites, continued to perform strongly while retail also continued to grow through innovation delivered in partnership with existing and new shopping centre groups.

“Our fly division continued its solid growth performance due to our footprint at all major Australian airports and our place-based business, while still in its formative years, continued to deliver growth by providing advertisers ways to engage with targeted audiences.”

The business maintains a strong balance sheet liquidity position to fund future growth and acquisition opportunities.

The board has declared an interim fully franked dividend of 2.8 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on September 23, with an ex-dividend date of August 31.