S4 Capital – parent company of MediaMonks – ended 2022 with a big boost in its revenue, but it wasn’t enough to offset its hefty costs.

Net revenue was up 25.9% year-over-year on a like-for-like basis. However, S4 still ended the year with a £159.6 million loss

The company largely attributed this to compensation, amortisation and intangible costs. The company also said that it had implemented “significant cost management measures,” including freezing hiring and more discretionary cost controls, in the second half of the year to improve profitability. Going forward, it plans to take a “more balanced” approach to hiring and recruitment.

The company has also been less active on the acquisition front – something that has resulted in major costs since it was started – though its results were still impacted by £89.2 million in payments related to acquisitions of 4 Mile Analytics, XX Artists and TheoremOne early in the year, with £60.7 million related to M&A activity in 2021.

S4 also made investments into bolstering its finance function, which it says is “now appropriate for the size and growth ambitions of the company.” Last year, its financial results were delayed twice as a result of financial governance issues.

In the company’s Content division – which includes creative and ad services – like-for-like revenue was up 24.1%. The Data & Digital Media division had like-for-like revenue growth of 17.3%, while the fledgling technology services division (which brought in only £7.6 million in 2021) had like-for-like revenue grow 72.3%, though it remains the company’s smallest source of revenue.

Looking forward, the company is forecasting net revenue growth between 8% and 12%, as it believes its momentum will help it weather expected economic challenges.