Trading Update

Zoo Digital Group PLC 23 January 2004 ZOO Digital Group plc ('ZOO Digital' or the 'Group') 23 January 2004 Restructuring of Business Units and December Trading Update ZOO Digital announces a trading update following its fundraising in December 2003 and trading over the Christmas period. DVD-EXTRATM The fundraising in November, which raised £5.75 million, was carried out primarily with the goal of developing the potential to the Group of DVD-EXTRA. The Group has continued to make significant progress in this regard and is actively negotiating with a number of parties regarding a variety of potential projects involving DVD-EXTRA. The funds raised in November have permitted the Group to restructure its businesses, as set out below, to provide the appropriate level of resources to ensure that the commercial and technical development of DVD-EXTRA remains on track. Restructuring of Business Units The Group announces that it has restructured into 2 main business units - ZOO Digital Publishing Ltd ('ZDPL') and ZOOtech Ltd. ZDPL will look after all of the Groups publishing and development of consumer facing products including our relationships with Universal and other major publishers for the DVD-EXTRA titles. ZOOtech will focus on the sales, marketing, licensing and development of new technologies including DVD-EXTRA STUDIO. The Group is currently looking to further strengthen the senior management teams in both businesses. The restructuring reflects the evolution of the different business arms of the business. December Trading Update ZOO Digital announces that it expects trading for the Group for the year to 31 December 2003 will fall below current market expectations and as a result the Company will make a material loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of goodwill. The principal reasons for this concern the sale of products in the publishing arm of the Group. The Group has taken action to rectify these issues going forward. More specifically these are: • Technical difficulties in the development of 'Premier Manager' on the Sony Playstation 2 ('PS2') platform caused a delay to the launch of the product in December 2003, which resulted in sales being significantly lower than, forecast. • The non-shipment of the 'Big Game Hunter' title on the Sony PSOne ('PS') and 'Need for Speed' on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance ('GBA'), caused by protracted contract negotiations, has further reduced publishing revenues for the full year. Both of these products will ship during Q1 2004. • The inability to generate any significant revenues from the consumer boxed product versions of Home Creative Studio • The DVD-EXTRA division accelerated investment and resources to the development of DVD-EXTRA in the latter part of the year and as a result has generated losses for the year higher than forecast Outlook The trading difficulties over the Christmas period in 2003 should be viewed in the light of the progress the Group has made during the year in both its publishing and DVD-EXTRA operations. The Group now offers a broader range of products, and begins the current financial year, having significantly grown its catalogue of publishing products in 2003, with a large range of titles across a number of platforms including Sony PS2, PS1, GBA, PC and DVD. The DVD-EXTRA operation, formed into a separate subsidiary ZOOtech Ltd following the recent fundraising, now has the resources to exploit the Group's IP assets. Ian Stewart, CEO of ZOO, commented, 'I was disappointed that the delivery of Premier Manager on PS2 was delayed. The programme we have implemented to restructure our business units will seek to ensure that the 2004 version will be delivered on schedule. Our extensive catalogue of titles and the continued growth in publishing interactive products on the DVD platform means that revenues from ZOO Digital Publishing will be more robust in 2004 and less reliant on the performance of one or two titles. Following the successful fundraising we have now formed ZOOtech Ltd to drive the expansion and development of DVD-EXTRA; this is particularly exciting and we expect to see licensing revenues being generated during the second half of 2004 following the formal launch of DVD-EXTRA at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas on 17th April 2004. We have completed an exciting year of transition and look forward to 2004 with confidence.' -ENDS- Contacts: ZOO Digital Group plc 0114-241-3700 Ian Stewart, Chief Executive Robert Deri, Chief Financial Officer Noble & Company Limited 0131 225 9677 John Llewellyn-Lloyd Beattie Financial James Chandler/Grace Marriner 0207 398 3300 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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