REG - Zoo Digital Group - Trading Update

Zoo DigitalAnnouncement

24/01/2024 07:15

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RNS Number : 6826A  Zoo Digital Group PLC  24 January 2024

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
EU Regulation 596/2014 as retained as part of UK law by virtue of the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended. Upon the publication of this
Announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public
domain.

 

24 January 2024

 

ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC

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

 

Trading Update

 

ZOO Digital Group plc (AIM: ZOO), a leading provider of end-to-end
cloud-based localisation and media services to the global entertainment
industry, today provides an update on trading.

 

Calendar 2023 marked a period of significant and unforeseen disruption for the
entertainment industry following strategic reviews by major studios and
Hollywood strikes that brought productions to a halt for six months. Following
resolution in November, production companies have resumed projects with the
expectation that the first of these would complete in January, accelerating
into February and beyond.

 

ZOO has now been notified by its largest customer of orders giving a pipeline
and confidence of work for the next two quarters which is expected to deliver
a strong recovery of revenues, and indicates demand for services and languages
that are aligned with ZOO's investment strategy. However, it is now clear that
the completion of entertainment products is taking longer than expected. This
will result in Q4 revenue being significantly lower than anticipated leading
to a greater loss than previously expected for the full year. The pipeline is
consistent with current market expectations for FY25 and a return to
profitability.

 

On 31 December 2023, the Group had net cash of $8.9 million and expects to
maintain a positive balance with unused debt facilities available at the March
year-end and an improving cash balance in the first half of FY25 due to the
recommencement of orders.

 

The Board expects further clarity on the timing of projects and therefore
revenue for the rest of the year in the coming weeks and will update the
market further as necessary in due course.

 

The persons responsible for arranging for the release of this Announcement on
behalf of ZOO are Stuart Green, Chief Executive Officer and Phillip Blundell,
Chief Financial Officer of ZOO.

 

 

 For further enquiries, please contact:

 ZOO Digital Group plc                                                +44 (0) 114 241 3700
 Stuart Green - Chief Executive Officer
 Phillip Blundell - Chief Finance Officer

 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)  +44 (0) 20 7710 7600
 Fred Walsh / Erik Anderson / Tom Marsh / Richard Short

 Singer Capital Markets (Joint Broker)                                +44 (0) 20 7496 3000
 Shaun Dobson / Asha Chotai

 Instinctif Partners (Financial PR)                                   +44 (0) 207 457 2020
 Matthew Smallwood / Joe Quinlan                                      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 leading,
technology-enabled localisation and media services.

Founded in 2001, ZOO Digital operates from hubs in Los Angeles, London, Dubai,
Turkey, South Korea, India, Denmark and Spain with a development and
production centre in Sheffield, UK.

The Group provides media services through its platforms that include: ZOOsubs,
ZOOdubs and 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, mastering, 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 Paramount Global.

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 placed to
capitalise on new market opportunities in a fast-paced and constantly evolving
industry.

 

www.zoodigital.com (http://www.zoodigital.com/)

 

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