TIDMLVCG
RNS Number : 7323L
Live Company Group PLC
05 January 2023
05 January 2023
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. as it
forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").
LIVE COMPANY GROUP PLC
("LVCG", the "Company" or the "Group")
OPERATIONAL UPDATE
ISSUE OF EQUITY
TOTAL VOTING RIGHTS
LVCG announces an operational update on its four business
Divisions as well as a general corporate update.
This serves as a return to the Group's quarterly updates and
going forward, every quarter, we will provide an operational update
broken down into the various Divisions.
The 4 Divisions being; BRICKLIVE, StART Art, LCSE (Sports &
Entertainment division) and a K-POP division trading under a number
of brands.
Highlights:
- A Korean Division of Live Company was set up to focus on K-POP and StART
- Divisional Update on:
- BRICKLIVE - Strategy for growth in 2023
- K-POP Division - Minimum 3 events in advanced stages of
negotiations for 2023, and discussions in place to add further
events
- StART Art Division - 10(th) year edition of StART London,
second year of StART in Korean, several StART+ shows planned for
2023 including Thailand and Singapore
- LCSE - Upcoming E-prix and Ocean Race and the 45th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour
- General Corporate update and cost savings: Cost savings to be
delivered from restructuring and debt restructure
- Issue of Equity to certain contractors
- Analyst Update planned in the early part of Q1 2023
Korean Division of Live Company Group
A division of Live Company was set up in Seoul with Jason Lee at
the helm. The primary purpose of LVCG Korea is to provide Korean
based support, intel and execution of contracts, for the K-POP
division. The secondary purpose is to expand the physical StART
presence in Korea and across the rest of Asia whilst moving the
digital StART platform to the next level.
Divisional Updates
BRICKLIVE
During 2022, 31 Tours, 3 live shows and two other activities
(2021: 42 tours) were sold for client events in the UK, Europe,
Asia and the US, creating amazing experiences for their customers.
August saw the first BRICKLIVE event since the pandemic. It took
place in London over five days and was extremely popular.
Despite the reduction in tours compared to last year, revenue is
expected to be in line with the prior year due to focus on higher
value tours and longer rental duration.
Pre-pandemic BRICKLIVE sold 71 Tours and the Group's strategy is
to return BRICKLIVE to this delivery level. To achieve this
BRICKLIVE will look at new markets in the Middle East, not
currently covered with our existing partners, as well as a renewed
focus on tour utilisation with a streamlined team.
In 2019 and previously, BRICKLIVE had numerous licence fees,
which we are looking to recapture in 2023 and beyond.
K-POP Division (operating under several brand names)
In 2022 we saw the launch of the K-POP Division of the Group,
KPOP.FLEX / K.Flex, with the first European festival launched in
May 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany, and subsequent announcement of the
O2 show in London in the second half of 2022, and a further
Frankfurt show in the summer of 2023. Due to force majeure
circumstances the O2 concert was cancelled. The event that took
place on 14 and 15 May 2022 to great acclaim in Frankfurt, Germany
reported a profit of GBP80,000 to LVCG, in addition to the profit
share, LVCG was also able to recover GBP137,000 of staff costs.
Since the disappointment of the cancellation of the London event
and learnings from Frankfurt, the Group set up a division in Korea
that employs a team with expertise and relationships in the K-POP
world. As a result, investment was generated, and further
relationships built with broadcasters, promoters, and management
companies in the K-POP industry. This has enabled us to reach the
final stages of negotiations for events in 2023. The aim in 2023 is
to offer 3 events in major European cities ranging from 1-day
concerts to 2-day festivals. The contracts for 2023 are multi-year
and identified further options in Japan and Europe embedding our
strategy of being a primary player in bringing KPOP to audiences
globally using a low-risk licencing business model.
In due course the Group will be announcing the European dates
and locations, in addition to the line-ups for Frankfurt and
London. The Group will be the Executive Producer at the new
European events, supported by broadcasters, promoters, arena
providers, thus reducing working capital requirements. Negotiations
are also in progress to roll out the K-POP offering to Japan and
any developments will be announced in due course.
In 2023 these European events, in total, are expected to
generate revenues of more than GBP1m to this division. The
corresponding contracts are multiyear and one day shows have the
option to extend to multi-day festivals. As a result, revenues and
profits should increase. Negotiations to extend our concert
offerings further afield are in advanced stages and announcements
will be made in due course.
StART Art Division
In 2022 the Group acquired the remaining shares in StART Art
Global, an online and physical art business. The Division hosted
the 9(th) instalment of the London show at the Saatchi Gallery and
is expected to report a profit for this event and its licence fee
income from the licensee StART.Art Korea. In conjunction with StART
Korea, the strategy for 2023 is a renewed focus on marketing,
sponsorships, and licence fees are implemented for 2023 which will
be the 10(th) Edition of StART London.
The licensee, StART.Art Korea, exhibited the inaugural StART Art
Fair Seoul at Galleria Fore t, which is in the affluent and
fashionable Sung Dong Gu district of Seoul. Jason Lee of StART
Korea, a division of Live Company Korea will bring his expertise to
operate the StART Art digital platform to maximise returns for the
Group. The strategy for StART.Art Korea in 2023 is to operate a
minimum of 3 revenue generating shows in Korea, Thailand and
Singapore.
Revenue from on-line art linked merchandised and online art
sales has been minimal thus far and testing on issuing of NFTs is
ongoing. However, the physical art events have continued to
grow.
LCSE
In March 2022 the Group's Live Sports and Entertainment ('LCSE')
Division hosted the annual mass participation Cape Town Cycle Tour
- after it returned to its usual March slot post Covid. Throughout
the year the Division also participated in producing several Pick
'n' Pay Wine Festivals in South Africa. However, the bulk of the
Division's work has been around the preparation for the 2023 Cape
Town Formula E race which was
finally confirmed by the FIA in October and the Cape Town
stopover of the Global Ocean Race. Both events take place in the
first quarter of 2023.
During 2022, LCSE has performed in line with expectations
regarding the operational delivery and we look forward to a
successful Formula E event in February 2023 with revenue derived
from management fees but unfortunately sponsorship for 2022 was not
obtained. As already communicated to shareholders LCSE will
received a percentage of all sponsorship fees delivered. The
Strategy for 2023 is to source significant title sponsorships for
all managed events.
General Corporate update and cost savings
During 2022 the Group continued to focus on increasing and
improving its offerings. The K-POP division added a new event, the
StART division added several new events in new territories
including Korea and South Africa, LCSE confirmed the FE race and
BRICKLIVE added shows in new locations and hosted its first event
since 2019.
Whilst the foundation for successful revenue generation from the
groups diverse Divisional offering, as disclosed in the Group's
2022 Interim Financial Statements, 2022 continued to be challenging
as the negative impact on live events from Covid were still being
felt, despite the attempts to diversify and the acquisition of the
remaining share capital of StART and the commitment of investment
from the Republic of Korea, the Group will deliver a loss during
2022
Revenue, Cost Saving
The Group believes in the multi-Divisional strategy, but
revenues will take some time to develop as each division moves
towards achieving their full potential. As a result, a number of
significant cost saving initiatives have been activated. These
include several redundancies after a review of all revenue streams
and the removal of none-core and loss-making activities; as well as
short term measures to improve working capital including the
payment of some contractors in shares, and the non- executive
Directors have announced their willingness to accept their director
fees in shares further announcements will be made in due
course.
The Group, with its new CFO John Miller, is as is standard in
operational businesses, in the process of reviewing its existing
debt structures with the view of renegotiating repayment schedules
to align with cash flows. Further short-term liquidity facilities
to assist with legacy debt repayments and operational working
capital requirements are being explored.
The strength of the Group's brand and the relationships nurtured
with licensees resulted in one of the Group's licensee's, Jason
Lee, equity investing in the Group during the second half of 2022.
Further tranches (subject to shareholder approval at the Group's
General Meeting which is due to take place on 9 January 2023) are
due in Q1 of 2023 and will total GBP750,000 as announced on an RNS
update on 18 November 2022.
To support this RNS update, an Analyst Update will be provided
in the early part of first quarter of 2023.
Contractor Shares
As detailed earlier the Group has elected to pay certain
contractors, including PDMRs Sarah Ullman the Group's COO and John
Miller the Group CFO, in shares ('Contractor Shares') for December.
A total of 1,700,000 contractor shares will be issued at 3p and
application will be made for the Contractor Shares, which rank pari
passu, with existing ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on
AIM ("Admission"). Admission is expected on or around 11 January
2023. Post issuance Sarah Ullman will own 829,486 ordinary shares
in the Group, and CFO John Miller will own 376,846.
Total Voting Rights
Following Admission, the enlarged issued share capital of the
Group will comprise 244,269,604 ordinary shares of 1p each
("Ordinary Shares"). Each Ordinary Share has one voting right. No
Ordinary Shares are held in treasury. The above figure may be used
by LVCG shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by
which they will determine if they are required to notify their
interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Group under the
FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Enquiries:
Live Company Group Plc Tel: 020 7225 2000
David Ciclitira, Executive Chairman
Sarah Dees, Chief Operating Officer
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser) Tel: 020 7628 3396
Roland Cornish/Rosalind Hill Abrahams
===================
Oval(X) (Broker) Tel: 020 7392 1436
Thomas Smith
===================
LIVE COMPANY GROUP
Live Company Group Plc ("LVCG", the "Company" or the "Group") is
a live events, entertainment, and sports events company, that has
been trading on AIM since 2017.
The Group is divided into four Divisions; BRICKLIVE, consisting
of a network of partner-driven fan-based and touring shows using
BRICKLIVE created content worldwide. The Company owns the rights to
BRICKLIVE - an interactive experience built around the creative
ethos of the world's most popular construction toy bricks. The
Group is an independent producer of BRICKLIVE and is not associated
with the LEGO Group. The second is KPOP which owns the K.Flex
brand. K.Flex is Europe's first ever Mega KPOP music festival. The
third is Live Company Sports and Entertainment, which manages
several global sports, entertainment, and lifestyle events. The
fourth Division is StART Art Global. StART Art Global is a
combination of both physical art shows and a digital art
platform.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
MSCUVRRROKUARRR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2023 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Live (LSE:LVCG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Live (LSE:LVCG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024