B16 notes30 Dec 2016 09:49
Effectively a turnaround/new business as they liquidated the old publishing business Ten Alps Media, renamed to zinc media and acquired Reef Television and Straker films. This year they were nominated for 8 BAFTAs and won 3. Have a look at the "murder detectives" on channel to see the quality that this co are putting out. Really is superb stuff.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-murder-detectives/episode-guide
The new strategy of the Group is to focus predominantly on its core strength of television production and to target higher value series for international broadcasters. It's principal operations are currently in the UK. Revenue from external customers in the United Kingdom was GBP19.56m (2015: GBP18.17m) and the total revenue from external customers in other countries was only GBP3.06m (2015: GBP2.3m) so massive scope and unmeasurable potential should successful relationships with international broadcasters materialise.
The 2016 results for these divisions are:
Reef television division as a whole delivered revenues of GBP16.33m (2015: GBP10.01m) and segment EBITDA of GBP0.82m (2015: GBP0.43m).
Straker Films division reported revenues of GBP2.21m (2015: GBP1.84m) with segment EBITDA of GBP0.19m (2015: GBP0.13m).
The Group also have a digital media wing, tapping into large corporation social responsibility budgets and create and manage websites for Siemens, BMW, Vodafone, Nationwide Building Society and London Transport. These websites need updating constantly so there is constant revenue stream. Educational websites are huge business because they can be adapted, translated for different countries and have potential to be bought out buy the big players, LinkedIn paid $1.5 billion for Lynda.com last year.
Non-Executive Director Luke Johnson's past is particularly impressive and recently showed a vote of confidence by taking fees in shares. Most relevant, he was Chairman of Channel 4 from January 2004 to January 2010, during which time he appointed a new CEO, restructured the board and saw the organisation enjoy record ratings, revenues and surplus. He is the Chairman of private equity house Risk Capital Partners LLP. He is Chairman and part-owner of Patisserie Holdings plc and Bread Ltd. He is also Chairman and majority owner of cruise holiday website operator http://Cruise.co.uk and Neilson Active Holidays. In 1993, Luke took control of Pizza Express with partners, subsequently becoming Chairman, and grew the business from 12 owned restaurants to over 250, and the share price from 40p to over 900p.
Greg Sanderson who joined the Group last year was a former senior commissioning executive at the BBC showing the calibre of talent the Group are attracting, clearly aligned with the Group strategy.