AGM Statement

RNS Number : 6873M

Zoo Digital Group PLC

18 September 2019

 

ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC

("ZOO", the "Group" or the "Company")

AGM Statement

ZOO Digital Group plc (AIM:ZOO), the provider of cloud-based localisation and digital distribution services for the global entertainment industry, will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 4.00pm today. At the meeting, Gillian Wilmot, Chairman, will make the following statement:

"This is my first AGM as chairman of ZOO and I am pleased to provide a positive update as we approach the end of the first half of our financial year. Our vision is to be a leading next-generation media localisation business that offers a unique combination of software and customer service to the film and TV industry's leading players, and I believe we are making good progress.

"We anticipate revenue for the first half to be in line with our expectations and remain confident in our full year expectations. The on-going changes in our industry have affected our sales mix, with a positive impact on margins in this half, and so we anticipate adjusted EBITDA for this period to be ahead of our expectations with revenues broadly in line with the same period in the previous year.

"This result is against a backdrop of considerable industry change, which remains characterised by ongoing and well-publicised transformation across the supply chain. Many major industry participants have been progressing plans for streaming video services, other participants have not yet settled internal reorganisations and there has been notable M&A activity. These were factors in the softening of our localisation sales that we reported in the second half of the prior year and which continued into the first months of the current period.

"Since August ZOO has been operating as a de facto preferred vendor for a major content producer to support the launch of its direct-to-consumer streaming video-on-demand service, and whilst longer-term contractual arrangements have not yet been finalised, a significant number of revenue-generating projects for this client are already underway with visibility extending throughout our second half. With both new original content and back catalogue titles needing to be digitally packaged and localised for multiple territories to support this new service, this is providing us with a significant pipeline of work. We also continue to be in dialogue with a number of large media companies regarding their selection of preferred vendors for localisation and digital packaging services.

"The decline in demand for traditional DVD and Blu-ray digital packaging work has accelerated further. It is however pleasing that the lost revenues from this service line have been matched by strong growth in demand for equivalent services for contemporary Over-the-Top ("OTT") streaming video platforms, and we expect this demand to continue.

"The market continues to expand through the launch of a number of new direct-to-consumer services over the next 12 months, the growth in production of original programming and the enlarged number of languages into which content is being localised. We expect that these factors will contribute to further growth in both our localisation and OTT digital packaging segments.

"I am confident that recent commercial developments and our enhanced technological proposition leave us well positioned for long term growth."

Presentation slides that will accompany an investor update following the AGM will be available on the Company's website later today.

The Company intends to announce its interim financial results for the six months to 30 September 2019 on 4 November 2019.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 ("MAR").  Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

For further enquiries please contact:

ZOO Digital Group plc	0114 241 3700
Stuart Green - Chief Executive Officer
Phillip Blundell - Chief Finance Officer
finnCap Ltd Henrik Persson / Kate Bannatyne (corporate finance) Camille Gochez / Andrew Burdis (corporate broking)	020 7220 0500
Alma PR Josh Royston / Hilary Buchanan / Helena Bogle	020 3405 0205

About ZOO Digital Group plc:

ZOO Digital is a provider of services allowing TV and movie content to be subtitled and dubbed in any language and prepared for sale with all major online retailers. ZOO's clients are some of the best-known brands in the world including major Hollywood studios, global broadcasters and independent distributors.

ZOO's point of difference in the marketplace is its development and use of innovative cloud technology. This ensures that content is localised in any language and delivered to all the major online platforms such as Amazon, iTunes, Google and Hulu with reduced time to market, higher quality and lower costs.  ZOO's agile, cloud-based business model enables clients to respond to market trends, scale easily with business growth and capitalise on new routes to market in the fast moving and evolving digital industry.

ZOO operates from the entertainment hubs of Los Angeles and London with a development and production centre in Sheffield. Its full-service proposition includes digital distribution, subtitling & captioning, metadata creation & localisation, dubbing, artwork localisation, workflow and asset management. 

www.zoodigital.com

 

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