Following a strong first three months, revenue for the company continued moving upward during the second quarter of 2014.
New York / Berlin (PRWEB) August 15, 2014
artnet, the world’s leading resource to buy, sell, and research fine art, design, and decorative art online, has released its financial results for the first six months of 2014. Following a strong first three months, revenue for the company continued moving upward during the second quarter of 2014. In the first six months of the current year, the Group’s revenue rose by 3.6% in euros over the corresponding period in 2013, to 6,799,000 EUR (8,619,000 USD). In US dollars, the currency in which the Group’s main business activities are processed, growth equaled 8.1%. This increase in revenue was mainly driven by the performance of two segments, artnet Auctions (up 22% in US dollars) and the artnet Price Database (up 11.9% in US dollars).
In the first six months of the 2014 fiscal year, gross profit increased by 12.2% (17.2% in US dollars), to 4,094,000 EUR (5,613,000 USD), compared to 3,649,000 EUR (4,791,000 USD) in the previous year. In addition to the strong performance of artnet Auctions and the Price Database, this improvement in earnings was also positively affected by lower personnel costs and fewer expenses for website maintenance.
The company successfully introduced two major developments during the first half of the year: the redesign of the artnet site and the launch of the 24-hour global art market newswire, artnet News. The site redesign, which introduced a new interface and optimized technology, has enabled artnet to further strengthen its brand, and to enhance usability for clients and visitors alike. We expect this rollout to underpin an increase in revenue going forward, remediating a slight drop in the Gallery Network’s revenue so far in 2014 versus the same period last year. artnet News has quickly become the art world’s definitive go-to source for news, recording 1 million visits in a one-month period only four months after its launch in February. Building on this momentum, we expect to generate additional interest in, and demand for, our other products and services. Advertising, in particular, is already benefitting from the redesign and the launch of the news platform, attracting advertisers such as Chanel, Bottega Veneta, and Cartier.
artnet CEO Jacob Pabst said, “The first six months of 2014 saw major positive developments for artnet, in particular, the launch of the news platform, which was an instant success, as well as the redesign of our website. These innovations enabled us to achieve a clear growth in revenue, coupled with an even greater increase in gross profit. The second half of the year will see us fully capitalize on these initiatives. We will continue to innovate as well, especially, through our auctions platform, given its significant potential, as collectors continue to grow more comfortable buying and selling art online.”
For more information, please contact:
Thierry Dumoulin
Vice President of Marketing
+1-212-497-9700 ext. 205
tdumoulin(at)artnet(dot)com
About artnet
artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market. Established in 1989, artnet provides reliable information and market transparency to art collectors. With our comprehensive suite of products, artnet can empower anyone with a passion for art.