Blinkx

Blinkx — and you’ll miss it. Shares in the AIM-listed video search engine developer have fluttered steadily lower since it was spun off from Autonomy, its FTSE 100 parent — sliding down nearly two thirds in the space of two years. At yesterday’s stock market value of less than £50 million, it is now of too small a size to interest many professional investors.

Neither has the demerged company done much to establish its autonomy from Autonomy. With Blinkx still racking up losses — it is not forecast to produce a full-year pre-tax profit until 2011 — it tapped its parent, which retains a 19 per cent stake, yesterday for additional cash.

True, there as signs of underlying progress. At $13.1 million, revenues in the six months to September 30, all of which are derived from online advertising, have doubled year-on-year. Over that time, Blinkx’s daily video search rate has more than doubled to 17.4 million, it has added 140 new partners (its technology powers the new BBC Democracy Live website) and it now ranks among the top ten video sites. It is also a survivor at a time when rivals, such as the British division of Joost, the online video specialist, have gone into receivership.

But with Blinkx still very much in Autonomy’s shadow, it is hard to see what will drive the shares higher from here, short of Autonomy conceding that demerger has not worked and buying the company back again. At 17½p, or 13 times 2011 earnings, pass.

from TimesOnline