5 April 2023
ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC
("ZOO", the "Group" or the "Company")
Acquisition of remaining shares in ZOO Korea
ZOO expands investment in Korean hub following strong first year performance
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 announces the acquisition of the remaining 49 per cent. of ZOO Korea.
Since the Company acquired 51 per cent. of the equity in March 2022, ZOO Korea has successfully expanded to deliver an in-territory servicing hub for the most prestigious names in entertainment. The venture has helped to address the growing global demand for Korean content and distribution of non-Korean titles in the country with premium and secure provision of dubbing, subtitling, quality control and media services.
In recent months, two global streaming services have worked with ZOO Korea and further significant new opportunities are in the pipeline. Due to the increased volumes of work, additional investment in people and infrastructure is required to support demand and capture the growing in-territory market for ZOO Korea's services. In FY22, ZOO Korea generated $1.2 million revenue and $0.1 million profit and the Board believes that it is commercially advantageous for ZOO Korea to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group. The Board estimates that $4.5 million of incremental revenues were recognised across the Group in FY23 as a result of ZOO Korea and that it will generate significant incremental revenue for the Group in future years through its own operations in Korea as well as services provided assisting ZOO in the US and UK.
Under the terms of the transaction, the Company will issue 550,000 ordinary shares in ZOO Digital Group plc to the exiting shareholders of ZOO Korea and make a one-off payment of $200,000 in consideration for their 49 per cent stake.
Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital, commented:
"We have been thrilled by the success of ZOO Korea since its inception 12 months ago. Our teams have built a productive and efficient working relationship, revenues have exceeded initial expectations and customer acceptance has been very high. This additional investment will consolidate the full benefit of ZOO Korea's future growth to the Group and support our long-term ambitions in the region."
Jonghyun Oh, Managing Director, ZOO Korea, added:
"The popularity of Korean-language film and TV has transformed South Korea into one of the most exciting markets globally for content production. We continue to see major international investment in original Korean programming, underpinned by both new and returning series, which is driving demand for our localisation and media services."
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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 and Denmark 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.
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