“Anghami has met many expectations in the run-up to its Nasdaq listing and remains committed to launching more innovative offerings, expanding its global reach and delivering value to customers through best-in-class content and innovative new features,”, Anghami’s co-CEO, said in a statement. “We are confident that this positive development will continue through 2022 as we benefit from our growing partnerships and offerings.
In 2021, Anghami posted revenues of $35.5 million in 2021, up 16.3% from 2020. Subscription revenue amounted to $25.7 million but grew only 3.8% from 2020 and accounted for just 19% of the annual growth. Advertising revenue improved 69.6% to $9.8 million and represented four-fifths of the revenue gain. Expenses rose faster than revenues did, however – particularly the 215.3% increase in general and administrative costs that helped Anghami’s operating loss deepen from $2.5 million in 2020 to $17.
The operating losses stem in part from “significant costs to license content” and pay royalties to record labels, music publishers and other copyright owners, the company stated in its prospectus released Wednesday.
Anghami’s share price fell 4.2% on Wednesday to $7.28, which gives the company a market capitalization of $189.3 million. The 10-year-old, Abu Dhabi-based company went public in February by merging with Vistas Merger Acquisition Company , a blank-check company that had an initial public offering on the Nasdaq in 2020. Although VMAC raised $100 million, holders of about 97.6% of VMAC common shares redeemed their shares prior to the business combination, according to the prospectus.
The prospectus relates to the issues of up to 10.9 million shares issuable upon exercise of its warrants – each warrant is exercisable for one ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50. However, with Anghami shares currently trading near $7, those warrants are “out of the money,” and the company does not expect holders to exercise their warrants.