Zinc Media Group plc (LON:ZIN), the award-winning television, brand and audio production group, has announced a trading update alongside details of recent commissions for the current financial year ending 31 December 2022.
Financial highlights:
· Revenue booked and anticipated to deliver in FY22 at £28m (FY2021: £17.5m), ahead of market expectations
· EBITDA performance is in line with current guidance with the Group expecting to be profitable in H2 2022
· The Edge, which was acquired by the Group in August 2022, is reporting its best trading year on record and integration into the wider Group is progressing well
· The Group has a strong balance sheet with cash of £3.1m as at 17 November 2022
· The Group is entering the new year in a strong position with £6m of revenue currently booked and a further £16m at a highly advanced stage which is expected to convert in the next few months for delivery in FY23
New commissions include:
· The first series commission for new label Rex titled Scandal
· Worldwide launch of new Supercollider project for Red Bull: Space Jump
· Recommission of Lego Suntz production from Supercollider
· New BBC TWO series Putin and the West
· Recommission of BBC ONE daytime series Critical Incident
Other operational highlights include:
· Appointment of Managing Director of Commercial Strategy
· Pledge to ensure half its Zinc documentaries are directed by women
· Nine award nominations for new label Bumblebee Post Production
Mark Browning, Zinc Media Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to report robust performance of the Group which has been driven by strong revenue growth. Our recent acquisition The Edge is performing ahead of initial expectations, our newly launched businesses are booking revenue quickly and our well-established labels are winning returning series. We continue to strengthen our business winning capabilities and a plethora of award nominations is a reminder that Zinc is one of the UK’s most prestigious production companies.”
The Group’s latest acquisition, The Edge, is trading well and on course to deliver its best trading performance to date. Integration is underway with workstreams exploring synergies and commercial growth opportunities across all aspects of the newly enlarged group and management expect to report progress at the end of Q1 2023.
Zinc launched two new business winning labels this year and both are already booking revenue into 2022 and 2023. The new popular factual label Rex launched in April, is prioritising returning series and saleable formats. This label is led by Lana Sala who was series producer of hit factual shows including SAS Who Dares Wins, First Dates and Celebrity First Dates. Rex is in production on its first series, Scandals for Channel 5, which charts some of the most notorious scandals of the last 30 years. Episodes include the infamous Neil and Christine Hamilton, the Jeffrey Archer scandals, culminating in his imprisonment in 2001, and the John Major and Edwina Currie affair in 2002. Bumblebee Post Production, which launched in September, is now winning television post production work for broadcasters and independent production companies.
Supercollider, the brand, event and documentary film label launched in 2021, has produced its latest film for Red Bull. The film Space Jump charts the 10th anniversary of Felix Baumgartner’s solo jump from the stratosphere which broke all online streaming records and changed the way the world watches content. To this day it remains the most watched online event. The film is available here https://www.redbull.com/int-en/films/space-jump-stratos
Brook Lapping has announced its latest premium access documentary Putin and the West. This series gets exclusive access to the corridors of power to tell the inside story of a decade of political strife from those who were in the room for the crucial decisions. Each episode will look at a different crisis – Ukraine 2014, Syria and the Middle East, and the current war in Ukraine up to the point of Russia’s invasion.
Tern TV has secured a recommission of the BBC ONE daytime series Critical Incident for its fourth season. The 15 new hours, which take the format to over 50 hours in total, tell real-life stories of the police and emergency services on the front line, often facing assault and abuse. This series is produced from Northern Ireland.
Zinc has appointed Aileen Dennis into a new role of Managing Director of Commercial Strategy. She will manage the rapid growth of the Zinc Communicate businesses, which grew 78% in H1 2022 versus H1 2021, while also supporting the Group as it explores further strategic development and acquisition opportunities. Zinc Communicate has recently launched its first 18-part series with Sustainable Travel International. It has produced films for global clients Easyjet, American Express and Shell amongst many others.
The Group has picked up a string of highly prestigious award nominations, underpinning its reputation as one of the UK’s most prestigious production companies. Tern TV has been nominated for 6 Royal Television Society (RTS) Awards for programmes including Darren McGarvey‘s Class Wars, Thatcher vs The Miners, Mr Brown’s Boys, The Secret Science of Sewage and Dolly: The Sheep That Changed the World. Tern TV has also been nominated for Scottish BAFTAs. Meanwhile new business Bumblebee Post Production has been nominated for the Broadcast Bulldog Awards which recognise outstanding innovation in television technology. The nomination is for excellence in cloud-based production work for the hit series Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun for Channel 5.
Zinc Media Group further underlined its status as an industry pioneer this month by joining the likes of Amazon Prime Video, BBC Documentaries and Channel 4 in committing to We Are Doc Women‘s pledge which aims to ensure that half of its documentaries are directed by women.
Further information can be found at: https://www.zincmedia.com/news/
