AGM Statement and Trading Update (2778P)
30 September 2011 - 7:30PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCMCP
RNS Number : 2778P
Content Media Corporation PLC
30 September 2011
Content Media Corporation PLC
-- AGM Statement and Trading Update
Speaking at today's Annual General Meeting John Schmidt, the
Chief Executive Officer of Content Media Corporation will update
shareholders as follows:
"We are pleased to report increased revenue and earnings for the
financial year ending 31 March 2011, and since our last release,
trading has continued to meet management's expectations. The
Company made significant progress on many fronts in the year ended
31 March 2011. We have grown our revenue in fiction and non-fiction
television. Our digital division also grew and now represents some
of the world's leading suppliers of digital entertainment. Our film
division continued to register profits in a difficult environment
for independent film and continues to represent some of the world's
finest directors and producers. Our operating costs have remained
stable and senior debt closed the year around 11% lower than the
previous year. We also carried out a successful re-branding of the
business.
In a difficult economic environment, we are pleased with these
results. As disclosed in our Preliminary Statement, our results for
this financial year will again be skewed towards the second half as
most of our television programming will be delivered over that
period. Similar to last year at this time, we have a reasonable
amount of visibility into the second half and taking account of the
ongoing challenging conditions, we are cautiously optimistic that
we will again have a positive full year result.
Our television division has been performing admirably. The drama
division has continued the positive trend from 2010 and is expected
to grow further this year. Library sales have been pleasing, across
both the wholly owned Fireworks library and the third party
libraries and individual titles that have been acquired since 2005.
In particular, we have seen a growth in activity in the US and
other major territories with several larger deals currently being
negotiated and expected to be concluded shortly. Revenues in our
factual distribution division are up on last year, albeit on a
comparatively smaller scale than our larger drama division.
As we mentioned in our recent Preliminary Statement, Collins
Avenue - our US factual entertainment venture with Jeff Collins -
has seen strong growth in recent months. It has now received four
broadcast commissions since the beginning of the year encompassing
36 hours of production. These shows are for Lifetime, Animal
Planet, National Geographic, and TLC. One of these shows - Dance
Moms - has done well for Lifetime, with high ratings and an
exceptional digital presence. Lifetime has recently announced an
order for a further 13 hours of the show. We will continue to work
with Jeff Collins and his team to build this company and capitalise
on this early success.
The digital division continues to thrive and leads the market in
the distribution of multi-platform programming. The division was
recently cited by Broadcast magazine as the highest grossing
company based on sales generated from new media and our early
adoption in this area continues to pay dividends; particularly as
our longstanding digital clients move their platforms aggressively
across new territories. New multi-platform deliveries include
Vuguru drama "The Millionaire Tour" and live action drama "Ark".
Spirit digital media - our multi-platform production partnership
with Peter Cowley - is still in its start-up phase but is
delivering several exciting opportunities, alongside some regular
consulting revenue streams and is integrating well with our other
group divisions.
Our film division has had a mixed recent period in relation to
new films it has taken to market and its full year result will
depend on sales made at upcoming film markets. The division
premiered three films at the Toronto International Film Festival -
"Hick", "The Day", and "Sarah Palin - You Betcha" and has four
films delivering before the financial year-end including "The
Pact", "Hard Boiled Sweets", "Fastest" and "Outpost: Black Sun". We
are also expecting a number of other films to go into production
this autumn. The growing feature film library is performing well in
terms of secondary TV and DVD markets and the increasing VOD and
digital markets. These results should underpin a relatively stable
overall result for the division.
We continue to be pleased with our investment in Phase 4 Films
in which the Company owns a 25% stake. It is one of very few North
American film distributors with a direct relationship with Wal-Mart
in both the US and Canada, and it has recently completed the
development of a comprehensive VOD platform in the US. Its
comparatively low cost infrastructure and the benefits it accrues
from distributing across North America, continue to enhance its
performance. We believe it will grow and enhance profitably over
the coming years.
As disclosed in our accounts, the interest rate on our loan
facility has been predominantly fixed since 2008 but will revert to
a floating rate this November. If floating interest rates remain at
current predicted low levels, this will lower our annualised
interest charge this year and into 2012.
Content has performed well in a tough market. We have a strong
sales and distribution platform and a low risk production
infrastructure that we will continue to build upon. We will focus
on positive cash flows to lower our debt levels whilst we continue
to look for strategic growth opportunities. Our ultimate goal in
all these efforts is to increase shareholder value."
- Ends -
Enquiries:
John Schmidt/Geoff Webb www.contentfilm.com
ContentFilm PLC Tel:
020 7851 6500
Robert Emmet
Throgmorton Street Capital Tel: 020 7070 0973
Philip Secrett/ Colin Aaronson /David
Hignell
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Tel: 020 7383 5100
Content Media Corporation plc ("Content", formerly ContentFilm
plc), is a publicly traded, global entertainment media company
based in London with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto,
which owns and distributes a significant library of film,
television and digital assets. Content Film, the film sales
division, holds the rights to 200 titles and helps producers secure
financing, marketing and distribution. The division also acquires
top-tier documentaries. Content Television is the television sales
division, which holds the library rights to 3,200 hours of TV
programming and 300 hours of digital content. Content Digital
licenses new and existing properties to digital media platforms
worldwide, including on-demand, broadband and mobile. In addition,
Content owns a significant stake in the following companies:
-- Phase 4 Films, a film and home video distributor in the
United States and Canada, headquartered in Toronto and run by CEO,
Berry Meyerowitz
-- Collins Avenue, a television production company based in Los
Angeles and run by producer, Jeff Collins. Recent credits include
"Fly Girls" on the CW network, and current productions include
"Stuffed" for Animal Planet, "Dance Moms" for Lifetime and "Extreme
Kids Parties" for TLC.
-- Spirit Digital Media, a digital studio established by Peter
Cowley, former MD of Endemol UK Digital.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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