REG - Zoo Digital Group - Trading Update

Zoo DigitalAnnouncement

26/01/2022 07:05

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RNS Number : 6196Z  Zoo Digital Group PLC  26 January 2022

26 January 2022

 

ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC

 

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

 

Trading Update

 

Continuing revenue growth

 

ZOO Digital Group plc, a world-leading provider of cloud-based localisation
and media services to the global entertainment industry, today provides an
update on current trading and outlook for the financial year ending March
2022.

 

The strong revenue growth reported in ZOO's interim results has continued into
the second half as the Group cements its position as a leading provider of
end-to-end services for the streaming video industry. With the resumption of
new productions, which had been on hold due to the pandemic, together with
ongoing migration of catalogue titles to streaming platforms and regional
territory launches, ZOO has secured a strong and growing pipeline of orders
across all service lines. As a result, revenues for the full year are now
expected to be at least $57 million (FY21: $39.5 million, +44%), with growth
in the second half over the first half of at least 11%, and at least 29% ahead
of H2 2021. The expected revenue growth has been driven by both new territory
launches and the return of new productions, and as a result, localisation
revenues are expected to grow by at least 55% and media services by at least
30%.

 

Based on this strong performance, revenues for the year are anticipated to be
ahead of market expectations, yielding additional profits that are being
reinvested in staff, infrastructure, facilities and international operations
to extend ZOO's capacity and support growth.

 

As major media companies aim to offer greater volumes of exclusive content for
their streaming video service subscribers, global content spend has reached
record levels. Specialist media analytics firm Ampere Analysis reported that
spend grew to $220 billion in 2021 and forecasts further growth in 2022. This
is creating significant volumes of original programming that must be prepared
and localised for distribution in many countries and languages, resulting in a
growing market for ZOO's services.

 

WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS have launched streaming video
platforms in North America and have all announced plans to make these services
available internationally in 2022 requiring catalogue content as well as newly
produced originals. This, together with the ongoing roll-out of established
global services, will create unprecedented demand for premium localisation and
media services during 2022.

 

ZOO has been appointed as a primary vendor for the forthcoming European launch
of a global streaming video service and expects that this will lead to
significant orders commencing in Q4 and delivering meaningful revenues in
FY23.

 

The Company expects to announce further investments to expand its
international footprint which, together with its ongoing investment in
technology, will provide ZOO with greater capacity and opportunity for
continued growth.

 

Stuart Green, Chief Executive Officer, said:

 

"We continue to see strong revenue growth as we extend our order pipeline
across all service lines. As major media companies expand their streaming
platforms internationally the global spend on film and TV programming
continues to rise. This content must be localised for regional audiences. With
these favourable dynamics at play, ZOO's technology-enabled end-to-end service
offering positions it well to continue to grow and take a greater share of an
expanding market."

Enquiries:

 

 ZOO Digital Group plc            +44 (0)114 241 3700
 Stuart Green
 Phillip Blundell

 Stifel                           +44 (0)20 7710 7600
 Fred Walsh / Tom Marsh

 Instinctif Partners              +44 (0)20 7457 2020
 Matthew Smallwood / Joe Quinlan  zoo@instinctif.com (mailto:zoo@instinctif.com)

 

 

About ZOO Digital Group plc:

 

ZOO Digital supports major Hollywood studios and streaming services to
globalise their content and reach audiences everywhere, by providing
world-leading, technology-enabled localisation and media services.

 

Founded in 2001, ZOO Digital operates from hubs in Los Angeles, London and
Dubai, with a development and production centre in Sheffield, UK. The company
is targeting $100m sales in the medium term.

 

The Group provides media services through its platforms that include: ZOOsubs,
ZOOdubs, ZOOstudio. Its full-service proposition delivers the end-to-end
services required to prepare both original and catalogue content for digital
distribution; these services include dubbing, subtitling & captioning,
metadata creation & localisation, artwork localisation and media
processing. Alongside this offering, ZOO also provides its customers with
management platforms and strategic solutions to support their own internal
globalisation operations.

 

ZOO is a go-to service partner for media businesses looking to globalise their
content across different territories, languages and distribution platforms.
Using its innovative technology-enabled approach, ZOO helps its customers to
reduce time to market, lower costs and deliver high quality products to their
global audiences. The business has frameworks in place with all major
Hollywood studios and streaming services. Its customers include Disney,
NBCUniversal, HBO and ViacomCBS.

 

ZOO's competitive advantage arises from three interlinking factors - the
leading role it has played in the digital transformation of its sector; the
world class proprietary platforms that it develops to enable this
transformation; and the global supply chain of thousands of freelancers,
working collaboratively in ZOO's platforms, which delivers services that scale
easily to meet demand. These factors combine to make ZOO uniquely geared to
capitalise on new market opportunities in a fast-paced and constantly evolving
industry.

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