5 Jun 2008 10:55
Immediate release: 5 June 2008
DCD Media plc
("DCD" or the "Group")
Trading Update & Board Reorganisation
DCD Media, the independent TV production and distribution group, provides a series of updates on group trading and prospects as the Company approaches its financial year-end to 30 June 2008.
New Commissions
The Group has received several important new commissions valued in excess of £5.0m.
Subsidiary production company, September Films, has received a major commission from CBBC (children's division of the BBC) to make Richard Hammond's Lab Rats - a new studio-based science show. The series will be the Top Gear host's first children's series which he has fronted and will transmit on BBC1 in CBBC's key Friday evening slot. The format was devised and developed by September Films and will be marketed for distribution exclusively by DCD.
A second series of Daily Cooks Challenge, produced by DCD subsidiary Prospect Pictures, has been commissioned by ITV1 following the successful first series which aired earlier this year. Presented by Antony Worrall Thompson, Daily Cooks Challenge sees two of the UK's top chefs battle it out across a week in a series of daily challenges featuring a different celebrity guest judge each day.
Prospect Pictures has also won a new commission from BBC Films to produce a feature documentary, The Road to Glory (working title), which follows the British artistic gymnastic team on their quest for medals at the Beijing Olympics. The production is currently scheduled for theatrical release in Q12009.
Iambic Productions also announce two new documentary commissions for BBC concerning the German film director, Werner Herzog, and famous Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo.
Board Reorganisation
Over the past two years DCD has expanded significantly as a Group and now has six production subsidiaries and two distribution focused businesses. The volume of new commissions has risen dramatically and the directors believe it is appropriate to adjust the structure of the board to account for this expansion.
As such David Green, chairman of DCD subsidiary September Films has been appointed Chief Creative Officer of DCD and joins the plc board (further details below), he is tasked with driving creative synergies within the group. Chief Financial Officer John McIntosh joins the plc board (further details below) while previous Finance Director Michael Barton steps across to become a non-executive director.
Joining the board, as a non-executive director, is Jim Hytner, who has extensive commercial experience across the media sector having previously been the Commercial and Marketing Director of ITV, the Marketing and Communications Director of Channel 5 and Marketing Director of BSkyB. He was also previously the Group Marketing Director of Barclays Bank and is presently the Commercial Director of the new media platform Top Up TV (further details below).
Justin Thomson Glover and Nicola Davies Williams have stepped down to accommodate these additions. Justin Thomson Glover will concentrate on the pipeline of Box TV dramas, which are growing in both scale and ambition, while Nicola Davies Williams will focus on the distribution division, which she heads, as she continues its rapid expansion into new programming and markets. Richard Price has also stepped down from the board. In recognition of his outstanding service to the Group over the past eight years, Richard, who was group Chairman from 2000 to 2004, has been awarded the emeritus title of President of the group. The other Directors of DCD wish to record their appreciation and gratitude to them for the excellent contributions they have made to the board.
Chief Executive, Chris Hunt, said,
"We are delighted to have attracted someone of Jim Hytner's calibre to DCD. He joins us at a time of greatly increased activity across the Group, as evidenced by the most recent spate of new commissions. The positions that Jim has held at Sky, ITV and Channel 5 show that he is an industry heavyweight who has a great deal to bring to DCD."
Trading Update
The Group continues to benefit from its distributor-led model, with NBD TV, its distribution arm, enjoying its highest ever revenues. Contribution from the Group's subsidiaries has shown internal growth approaching 15% thus far (excluding the impact of the recent acquisitions) driven by the strengthening back catalogue of productions and emerging new revenue streams. Certain of the Group's production divisions Box TV, Done and Dusted and Iambic Productions continue to derive the majority of their earnings during the last quarter of the year, with several discussions still underway.
The integration of the Group's most recently acquired production divisions, Prospect Pictures, September Films and West Park Pictures, is all but completed, and the Group is pleased to note continuing strong momentum from these divisions in the second half of the financial year following their addition to the Group last August.
With less than one month until the end of the financial year there remain significant deals to be agreed in two of the Group's subsidiaries. These production deals will be addressed as swiftly as possible, but management needs to ensure that the commercial integrity of the discussions is not affected by the impending year end. It is likely therefore that conclusion of certain deals may yet fall post year end.
Outlook
The second half of the year was the first period of full contribution from all the Group's subsidiaries, reflecting a similar trading profile to the prior year. Some rescheduling in production activity is inevitable in a group of this size but the effect of this is one of delayed revenues rather than lost revenues. DCD has a rich development pipeline which encourages the board to believe that 2008/9 will be a strong year.
For further information please contact,
Chris Hunt, Chief Executive
DCD Media Plc
Tel. 020 7297 8000
Ben Simons or Eleanor Williamson
M:Communications
Tel. 020 7153 1540
Tom Price or Jeremy Ellis
Evolution Securities
Tel. 020 7071 4300
Information regarding the appointments of Jim Hytner as non-executive director, John McIntosh as Chief Financial Officer and David Green as Chief Creative Officer.
Full name: James Edward Hytner
Age: 43
Current Directorships: Comic Relief (trustee), Top Up TV Ltd
Full name: John Joseph McIntosh
Age: 39
Current Directorships: September Holdings Ltd, West Park Pictures, Prospect Pictures
Previous Directorships (five years): Colourful Parachute Ltd, Manderle Ltd, Imagestate plc, Imagestate Europe Ltd
Full name: David Ian Stewart Green
Age: 59
Current Directorships: September Holdings Ltd, Xinhua Finance Media, Polygon Productions, Inc, Buster Films Ltd
Shareholding in DCD Media plc: 4,246,614 Ordinary Shares representing approximately 8.0% of the issued share capital of the Company
There are no further matters to be disclosed under Schedule 2 (g) of the AIM Rules.