Business Update

RNS Number : 7015G

Immotion Group PLC

08 November 2018

 

8 November 2018

Immotion Group plc

("Immotion Group", the "Company" or "the Group")

Business Update

Immotion Group plc, the UK-based immersive virtual reality ("VR") 'Out of Home' entertainment business, is pleased to announce that it has secured a range of ImmotionVR Experience Centre sites and entered into new revenue share partnerships ("Concession Partnerships"). This is expected to increase the number of installed VR headsets, ("seats") from 105 today to 191, an increase of 82%.

Highlights:

·    Two new major Concession Partnerships secured with The Rank Group plc in the UK and Al Hokair Group. The latter is the Group's first major Concession relationship in the Middle East

·   Five additional ImmotionVR Experience Centres to be opened across the UK, which will bring the total number of Experience Centres to 12

·    US roll out initiated with first ImmotionVR Experience Centre test site opened in LA

·    Strong trading reported in all UK ImmotionVR Experience Centres, including its operational entertainment concessions, particularly given the recent half-term school holidays

o  The 'Edutainment' Concession in W5 Belfast saw particularly strong performance

·    Further proprietary VR content released, anticipated to maintain the strong footfall experienced across current operations

o  50% of revenue at the ImmotionVR Experience Centre in Bristol is from pre-booked customers, many of whom are returning customers

·    Further significant partnership and other opportunities are at advanced stages of negotiation

Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group said:

"Our VR revenues have grown rapidly since listing following the consistent roll out of our owned and operated ImmotionVR Experience Centres and our entry into numerous Concession Partnerships. We are very pleased with the reception our experiences are receiving from consumers and while VR still has a long way to go, it is clearly here to stay given the five-star Trip Advisor ratings across the majority of our sites, alongside increasing numbers of returning customers. We have a first mover advantage and each week we learn, helping us refine our offering for the future.

"Our relationships with shopping mall owners continue to get stronger, especially with Intu, who are now our largest retail partner. The new concession initiatives with The Rank Group, and Al Hokair are both major milestones for the company and I am confident that following successful trials, we will have a clear runway for future site roll out.

"We continue to see strong interest from major leisure operators wanting to partner with Immotion Group to exploit the growing appetite for VR. As the only player offering quality proprietary content, motion platform and marketing solutions in multiple jurisdictions, we are quickly becoming the VR partner of choice.

"The new experiences produced by our award-winning team in Manchester take motion platform-based VR to a new level. We're confident the new Christmas VR experience, 'Elf Power Inc.' will be a big hit with our audiences this Christmas."

Opening of Additional ImmotionVR Experience Centres

Immotion Group will open a further five VR Experience Centres in the UK before the end of 2018, bringing the total number of ImmotionVR Experience Centres in the UK to 12 when the roll-out is complete.

Two of these will be opened in shopping centres owned by Intu which sees the Company expanding the relationship outlined with the leading shopping centre operator in the announcement dated 5 September 2018.

The additional sites will be opened in high footfall retail and leisure locations as follows:

·    Soar leisure destination at Braehead, Glasgow (Intu)

·    The Metro Centre in Newcastle (Intu)

·    London Designer Outlet, Wembley Park

·    The Brunel in Swindon

·    Star City, Birmingham

With seven ImmotionVR Experience Centres, owned by the Group and currently in operation in the UK, this will bring the total number of UK ImmotionVR Experience Centres to 12. The Company also has one USA test site.

The Company believes there are opportunities to open VR experience centres in most primary shopping malls in larger cities in the UK and USA with a target of 50 in the UK and 100 in the USA in the next 24 months.

Further Concession Partnerships

In line with its strategy to grow its Concession base, by working with large established multi-site leisure operators, the Company is pleased to announce that it has secured two new Concession Partners which is anticipated to substantially increase the number of installed seats.

These will add to the existing range of VR centres currently operating on a Concession basis:

·    VR Entertainment Centre in LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre, Boston USA - Merlin Entertainment

·    VR Entertainment Centre in LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre, Manchester, UK - Merlin Entertainment

·    VR Centre at Genting Resorts World in Birmingham

·    VR 'Edutainment' concession in partnership with W5 Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland

These relationships offer valuable ancillary revenue from a new attraction for the partner and access to large, proven and established leisure audiences for Immotion Group. By carefully selecting partners and testing formats before full roll-out, the Company believes this can be a very significant and attractive channel for rapid scaling of the Group.

Al Hokair Group

The first of these contracts is a major partnership agreement with the Al Hokair Group for the roll out of ImmotionVR centres across the GCC countries. The Al Hokair Group is a significant owner and operator of leisure destinations in the Middle East. Over the last five decades, Al Hokair Group has grown into a leading leisure and hospitality group with 79 entertainment centres and 34 hotels across Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Al Hokair is listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange.

The revenue sharing partnership will see Immotion Group and Al Hokair initially open an ImmotionVR Experience Centre in Abu Dhabi, with further centres to follow based on test results. Immotion Group will provide the VR equipment, marketing collateral, and staff training, with Al Hokair providing the sites, staff and utilities.

Rank Leisure Group plc ("Rank Leisure")

In the UK, the company has entered into a revenue sharing partnership with Rank Leisure to trial the Company's new VR Racing Challenge offering, a realistic VR car racing simulator game where customers can compete against each other racing cars around some of the World's most famous racing circuits.

The first will be opened at a Grosvenor Casino in Manchester in early December, 2018, with further sites to be rolled out based on test results. Rank has 54 Grosvenor casino sites in the UK.  

Additional Sites

The Company is also opening two smaller sites through concession partnerships with Weston Pier in Somerset and Meet Space VR in Nottingham. Meet Space VR recently opened a Zero Latency free roaming VR centre in Intu's Victoria shopping centre in Nottingham.

New Proprietary VR Experiences

Immotion Group continues to add new proprietary experiences to its portfolio. It is pleased to announce the launch of two new cutting-edge VR experiences produced exclusively in its Manchester studios. The first is 'Jinxed' - a curious VR ghost train experience through a strange and bizarre fun house ride, and the second 'Elf Power Inc.' - a magical journey alongside Santa's elves as they deliver Christmas in their own special way.

Immotion Group is also in the final stages of post-production for a ground-breaking live action VR undersea 'Edutainment' Experience - 'Swimming with Humpbacks' - to add to its 'Legend of Lusca' underwater experience. This was led by the Company's live action studio in LA. 

All experiences will be available in all ImmotionVR Experience Centres and selected Concessions.

**ENDS**

Enquiries:

Immotion Group	Martin Higginson	Tel: [phone]
WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)	Adrian Hadden Jessica Cave	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)	Damon Heath Erik Woolgar	Tel: [phone]
Newgate Communications (Financial PR)	Elisabeth Cowell Robin Tozer	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

 About Immotion Group:

Immotion Group, co-founded by Martin Higginson and David Marks in 2017, generates revenues through the delivery of high quality "state of the art" VR experiences, combined with cutting edge motion platforms to consumers at an affordable price point through a range of routes:

·    Sales - sale of VR Motion Platforms to Leisure and Entertainment operators provide the opportunity for the operator to drive substantial ancillary revenues

·  Concession partners - currently installed at a range of outlets including Merlin Entertainments' LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres in Boston, USA and in Manchester, UK and Genting Resorts World in Birmingham - this channel provides an opportunity for its partners to earn ancillary revenues, as well as providing an exciting additional attraction to their facilities

·    Owned and franchised Experience Centres, trading as ImmotionVR, located in high footfall locations such as shopping centres

 

END

 

 

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