Trading Update & William Hill
Published: 15/11/2005, 07:01
Yoomedia PLC 15 November 2005 YooMedia plc / Ticker: YOO / Market: AIM / Sector: Media 15th November 2005 YooMedia PLC ("YooMedia" or the "Company") Trading Update & William Hill Partnership YooMedia plc, the AIM-traded interactive media and games group, is pleased to announce that it has updated its agreement with William Hill, which will result in improved commercial terms and conditions for YooMedia. These include providing a daily interactive afternoon show for Channel 425's in-store pilot for which YooMedia will receive production fees. YooMedia Chairman, Michael Sinclair, said: "Our partnership with William Hill is important to the business and we are very happy that this new agreement is in place. We expect to generate significant ongoing revenue from the partnership and we are looking forward to being part of William Hill's innovative pilot." Further to this announcement, YooMedia provides the following update to investors on its current trading and strategy. The Company announced in June 2005 and in its interim results released in September 2005, that its Gambling and Games division would achieve lower than expected revenue for the year ending 31 December 2005. This underperformance has continued with the division remaining loss making for the year to date. The Directors expect the performance of this division to materially improve following the re-negotiation of the William Hill contract, which will now make a positive contribution to company profits in 2006. However, due to the time taken to re-negotiate the contract, the Directors do not believe the Company will be cash flow positive until the first quarter of 2006 and that market expectation of EBITDA for 2005 will be below that originally anticipated at the interim stage. To date the Company has managed the impact of these delays on cash flow within its banking facilities, and is currently exploring a number of available options for strengthening its balance sheet. During the last three months the Board has conducted an in-depth review of the Company's activities. This has resulted in a decision to explore strategic alternatives for its Dating division following preliminary approaches from third parties. The significant value of the Dating business is, in the Director's opinion, obscured in the Company as a whole. Such alternatives are expected to provide both increased marketing opportunities for the division and strengthen the Company's balance sheet. Further announcements will be made in due course as appropriate. * * ENDS * * Contacts: Neil MacDonald YooMedia plc Tel: 020 7462 0870 Isabel Crossley St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 Notes on YooMedia plc YooMedia is one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment companies in the UK. Essentially, it develops and delivers premium interactive content and services to households and individuals via TV, the web, telephony and mobile phones. It has four main divisions: • YooMedia Dating - manages dating brands including Dateline and Avenues from over 20 locations throughout the UK. Operates across traditional media, digital TV, internet and mobile phones. • YooMedia Gambling & Games - interactive fixed odds, play for fun casino and poker related games services for digital TV, the web and mobile phones. Brands include Avago and Channel 425. It also manages YooPlay, the only interactive games channel found on all four Digital TV platforms in the UK. • YooMedia Enhanced Solutions (YES) - delivers interactive content that enhances consumer and audience experiences. Customers include the BBC, Nestle, Celador, William Hill, Channel 4, ZipTV, The Cartoon Network and HR Owen. • YooMedia Public Sector - provides digital solutions/media services to leading public sector organisations including the NHS Direct Interactive TV service for the Department of Health, the Learning and Skills Council TV Kickstart service and a range of local authority TV services. The Group's experienced management team includes: Chairman, Dr. Michael Sinclair, who holds a number of directorships in both the UK and the USA having previously founded Lifetime Corporation; and Managing Director, Neil MacDonald, whose career spans 11 years in multimedia and interactive sectors plus a further 19 years in the retail industry. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange