26 September 2024
ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC
("ZOO", the "Group" or the
"Company")
AGM Statement and 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, will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM)
at 5.00pm BST today. At the meeting, Gillian Wilmot,
Chairman, will make the following statement:
"The streaming industry continues its
transition following strategic realignments and the strikes of
2023. Recent months have witnessed the early stages of recovery as
major US media organisations have enacted their plans to adjust for
a future in which traditional linear television plays a diminishing
role. While many productions that resumed following the strikes
have since been completed and distributed to global audiences,
changes made in the mix of content types acquired and capital
allocation policies, which are more strategic in nature, will take
a longer period to yield results and restore levels of industry
output to those seen in 2022, particularly in Hollywood.
"Against this backdrop ZOO has seen a strong
recovery in its pipeline over the first half of FY25 and expects to
deliver sales in the period of at least $27 million, equating
to a 28% increase over the equivalent prior year period and 42% up
on the previous half. As previously stated, the Board expects
EBITDA profit in the first half.
"Market participants anticipate the industry's
recovery continuing until late 2025 which is consistent with the
indications ZOO has been provided by its customers.
"The Board continues to be confident that the
changes arising from the realignment of ZOO's major customers will,
in due course, be favourable for the Group. These include
accelerated transition to an end-to-end approach with fewer, more
capable suppliers; an increasingly diverse mix of original
international content with a shift to episodic over feature titles;
and greater dependence on ZOO's software platforms, all of which
will be advantageous to the Group.
"The Company continues to manage its cash
position carefully whilst protecting production capability and
capacity to satisfy the demand of its customers. As a result, the
unaudited cash balance as at 30 September 2024 is expected to
exceed $2 million.
"Visibility extends only to January 2025, as is
normally the case for the ZOO business, however, the Board expects
further profitable progress that will put us on track to meet
market guidance for the full year ending 31 March 2025."
Presentation slides that will accompany an
investor update following the AGM will be available on the
Company's website later today. Shareholders may register to join a
live stream of the AGM, investor briefing and Q&A here:
https://www.zoodigital.com/agm-2024.
The Company intends to announce its unaudited
interim financial results for the six months to 30 September
2024 in November 2024.
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.
The persons responsible for making this announcement are CEO Stuart
Green and CFO Phillip Blundell.
For further
enquiries, please contact:
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ZOO Digital
Group plc
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+44 (0)
114 241 3700
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Stuart Green - Chief Executive
Officer
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Phillip Blundell - Chief Finance
Officer
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Stifel Nicolaus
Europe Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint
Broker)
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+44 (0) 20 7710
7600
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Fred Walsh / Erik Anderson / Ben Good
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Singer Capital
Markets (Joint Broker)
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+44 (0) 20 7496
3000
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Shaun Dobson / Asha Chotai
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Instinctif
Partners (Financial PR)
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+44
(0) 207 457 2020
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Matthew Smallwood
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zoo@instinctif.com
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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, Spain, Italy and Germany 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