Zinc Media Group plc (LON:ZIN), the award-winning television, brand, content and audio production group, has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 June 2022.
Headlines
The Group is pleased to report excellent progress in H1 2022 and continues to trade in line with market expectations for the current financial year. The first half of 2022 includes the following highlights:
· Revenue of £10.8m (H1 2021: £7.0m), an increase of 54% year-on-year.
· Adjusted EBITDA loss of £0.65m (H1 2021: loss of £1.1m), an improvement of £0.45m over the prior year period.
· Gross margins in the period were 33% (H1 2021: 34%), which remain significantly up on 2019 and 2020 when they were 25% and 30% respectively.
· The acquisition of The Edge Picture Company (“The Edge”) post period-end, announced in August, will add scale to the existing Group, supporting long-term profitability. The Edge is one of the largest brand and corporate film making production companies in the UK. It closely aligns with the Group’s other film-based production businesses and is a fantastic fit for Zinc Media.
· The Group completed a fundraise of £5m (before expenses) alongside the acquisition of The Edge. This was supported by several new and existing institutional shareholders. The proceeds of the placing were used to finance the acquisition and will also provide additional growth capital for the Group.
· As at 26 September 2022 the enlarged group has booked £27m of revenue which has or is expected to be delivered in 2022, representing an increase of £10m since the last trading update in May 2022 and an improvement of £10m compared to the same point in 2021 in relation to that financial year.
· The Group has a strong pipeline of potential new business for 2022 and 2023 and is confident of trading in line with market expectations.
Operational Highlights
· There were a number of significant programme successes in the first half of the year, which included:
o Being awarded the weekly BBC ONE series Sunday Morning Live for an initial two year term in a competitive tender process;
o The recommission of the Group’s largest ever series with Channel 5;
o The recommission from the Warner Bros. Discovery Group of Spooked Scotland;
o A landmark programme for BBC ONE titled Tom Daley: Illegal to be me;
o Afghanistan: Getting Out, a major production for the BBC; and
o Nominations for prestigious industry awards including a BAFTA, an RTS award and two Emmys in recognition of the Group’s quality and impactful content.
Outlook
· The outlook for the Group is positive, with the recent period of new business conversion underpinning the Board’s confidence in meeting market expectations for the financial year, including being profitable in the second half of the year.
· The Edge are performing very well: they are having their best ever year and expect to post record revenues in 2022.
· The acquisition of The Edge will further strengthen and provide significant scale to the Group, resulting in annualised proforma Group revenues for FY22 of over £35m.
Mark Browning, Zinc Media Chief Executive, commented: “We are delighted with the current performance of the Group which has seen a considerable increase in turnover whilst maintaining an attractive margin, with good visibility of sustainable profitability. The organic growth, coupled with the acquisition of The Edge, provides initial scale and the Board is optimistic about the Group’s outlook and views the future with confidence.”
