8 June 2015
Forbidden Technologies plc
("Forbidden" or the "Company")
AGM Statement
Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT), the AIM-quoted owner and developer of the market leading cloud video platform, Forscene, will today make the following statement at its Annual General meeting:
"Forbidden has spent recent months broadening its commercial strategy to embrace professional post production on one side of the market spectrum and mass market consumer video apps on the other.
Forbidden has restructured its Executive Management team to implement its new strategy, and we are pleased to be welcoming two of our Executives to the Board immediately following the AGM: Jason Cowen as Commercial Director and Aziz Musa as Marketing and Consumer Products Director. Our non-Executive Finance Director Jonathan Lees will join the Executive team later this month when he takes over from Phil Madden as Executive Finance Director.
Forbidden has also made significant changes to its product range.
Forscene
The pioneering cloud video editor in the Forscene video platform has had a major upgrade. The new interface is designed to appeal to more sophisticated editors, particularly in Sports. Forbidden has also developed a unified web-based interface to allow clients and resellers to handle their own administrative tasks, allowing Forbidden to scale use of its platform. Technical work is now focused on consolidation and integration, particularly into Sports workflows.
Forbidden's new Executive team has capitalised on its Forscene investment and demonstrated a clear increase in Sports deals so far this year. IMG, the world's biggest digital sports rights holder, has started using Forscene on a regular basis, and another client is using Forscene in a major multi-year deal this summer. A stream of smaller events provide a good backdrop in sports, with our North American operation providing both broadcast productions and a base for addressing this geography.
The success of Forbidden's new marketing strategy has been illustrated most recently at this year's NAB Show in Las Vegas. Visitors to the stand and good leads have both multiplied, with an encouraging number of trials, pilots and Resellers coming out of the Show.
eva
With the consumer audience for cloud video growing rapidly, Forbidden is about to enter this market. Our first mass market consumer product, eva, is an ambitious video social network. With a launch on iPhone planned for July, the mobile app makes use of Forbidden's professional video platform back end, adding its own social network infrastructure. Forbidden's core technology provides a depth not available to competitors - and Forbidden has now applied for multiple eva patents.
Forbidden has recently broadened its eva beta test programme, with priority given to shareholders, in preparation for the launch next month.
Captevate
Forbidden is further leveraging its cloud platform to address the market for consumer video editing. Previous experimental products have been based on the professional Forscene interface. In contrast, Forbidden's consumer editor, Captevate, is designed from the ground up to give a quick and enjoyable experience for consumers to edit and share their mobile video.
The Captevate technical proof of concept has been completed and the UX design for the product is now substantially complete. Development is focusing on the beta, which will be a simple test editing app, running in Javascript.
Outlook
With the limited number of users in Forbidden's original market of UK broadcast post-production, Forbidden's future success depends on expanding the footprint of its technology.
The upgrades to the professional platform have led directly to increased traction in the high value sports arena, and this is an area where we continue to look for growth.
Forbidden's consumer markets are exciting, and we are now making rapid progress with the product developments described within this statement."
Enquiries
Forbidden Technologies plc
Stephen Streater, CEO
Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Bobbie Hilliam, Corporate Finance
Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8900
Redleaf Polhill (Financial PR)
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett
David Ison
Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 4730
Email: forbidden@redleafpr.com
About Forbidden Technologies plc
Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT, www.forbidden.co.uk) floated in February 2000.
The Company develops and markets the powerful cloud video platform, Forscene, which is used by broadcasters, in professional web video, in education and by consumers. Forscene is one of the world's most advanced browser-based and mobile applications.
Websites:
Social media:
www.plus.google.com/+Forscenepro/posts
www.linkedin.com/company/forscene
www.youtube.com/user/ForsceneTraining