ON AIR NOW:

Zoo Digital signals recovery in streaming market after harmful Hollywood strikes

Subtitling and dubbing specialist Zoo Digital has told of a recovery in its work pipeline following the damaging impact of Hollywood strikes last year.

The Sheffield-based provider of media services to streaming companies said its customers have indicated the market is recovering, a trend which it expects to continue until late 2025. It told investors on the London Stock Exchange that it expects to deliver sales of least $27m (£20.2m) in the first half of its 2025 financial year – an increase of 28% on the prior year period and 42% up on the previous half.

Gillian Wilmot, chairman of Zoo, said: “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.”

Accounts published in August laid bare the impact of the strikes on Zoo’s performance in the year to the end of March, with the sector slowdown derailing strong growth for the firm. The report showed revenues more than halved to $40.6m (£31.2m) and it suffered an operating loss of $19.1m (£14.7m). Zoo said it expects to report an Ebitda profit in the first half of 2025.

In the latest pre-AGM announcement, Ms Wilmot added: “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 September 30, 2024 is expected to exceed $2m. Visibility extends only to January 2025, as is normally the case for the Z00 business, however, the board expects further profitable progress that will put us on track to meet market guidance for the full year ending March 31, 2025.”

Zoo expects to publish unaudited interim financial results for the six months to the end of September 2024 in November.

Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber

Scroll to Top