Swedish performance marketing network Tradedoubler has released year-end figures for 2015, revealing net sales (excluding change related items) of SEK 1,629 million – roughly £133 million.

That figure represents a decrease of 12% on 2014, adjusted for fluctuations in exchange rates.

Gross profit on the same basis came in at SEK 336 million (£27.5 million), a decrease of 17%, while gross margin declined year on year by a percentage point to 20.7%.

Operating costs remained relatively steady at SEK 348 million, an adjusted decrease of 2%.

Despite declines across the board, CEO Matthias Stadelmeyer claims the company is “well positioned” to deliver improved performance in the year ahead.

Year in finance

The start of the year saw the network finalising its Nordic regional structure. The closing of its Norway office carried “limited one-off costs”, while in the same month it acquired German tech company Adnologies with minor financial effect. 

However, Tradedoubler suffered a blow to net sales in 2015 with the loss of a major international client which carried “significant impact” on revenue and gross profit during the third and fourth quarters.

Paris-headquartered Reworld Media acquired 19.1% of Tradedoubler’s shares in March 2015, later securing additional shares from investment company Henrik Kvick AB, resulting in 29.95% ownership of the business.

Fourth quarter

Stadelmeyer comments that Q4 underlying gross profit within its core business of performance marketing saw year-on-year improvement on the previous quarters.  

Gross profit growth was also seen in a number of markets within the same timeframe, with “positive signs” emerging from its challenges in France and Switzerland, while enhancements to product indicate a bright start to 2016.

“Our enhanced performance marketing solution focuses on bringing targeted new customers to our clients’ businesses,” says Stadelmeyer.

“We released an initial offering in Germany and the UK during the fourth quarter and will have a market launch of a more sophisticated and scalable version in the second quarter 2016.”

Tradedoubler is also gaining traction with a number of other recent product launches, where it’s witnessed strong results among its clients. Those include cookieless tracking, user journey reporting, and ADAPT – its business intelligence tool.  

According to the firm, this tech is helping its clients garner the best insight from complex data in order to optimise their performance marketing.