Mediazest Regulatory News (MDZ)

21 Jun 2012 07:47

MediaZest Plc ("MediaZest", the "Company" or "Group"; AIM: MDZ) Pre-Close Trading Statement

MediaZest, the creative digital out-of-home advertising company, is pleased to announce the following trading update ahead of its final results for the year ended 31 March 2012 which are scheduled to be released in August 2012.

Although the Group is pleased to have recorded its first increase in year on year turnover since the recession began, second half growth during the year ended 31 March 2012 was slower than anticipated. Overall, the Company will post slightly improved year on year results with a reduced loss.

Despite a tough start to the 2013 financial year, the Group continues to add new clients and develop opportunities with significant long term potential. The main difficulties faced by the Group continue to be uncertainty in the economic climate and continued pressure on client marketing budgets at this time, which makes the scale of future revenues particularly difficult to predict.

The Group now has a large number of blue chip retailers and brands as customers and in the fullness of time it expects this client base to deliver larger revenues. Client retention remains strong and the Board is also encouraged by the quality of new clients and opportunities being won.

Against this background, costs are constantly monitored and reduced, where appropriate, in an effort to reach profitability as soon as possible. The Board has taken steps to reduce annual overhead by over £200,000 following the review of year end 31 March 2012 performance. These cost reductions will begin to come into effect in the next quarter.

In terms of new business wins, the Group is pleased to announce over £250,000 of new project work won in the first half of the new financial year on top of existing contractual income.

This has included work from existing customers in the Education, Retail and Corporate sectors and the Board is pleased to advise that new customers, including Samsung (through their agency Cheil), adidas (through agency Savvy Sport), Caffe Nero, Topshop and Serco, have been added.

The Group continues to pioneer new uses for existing technologies such as the virtual mannequin which generates considerable interest. It expects to produce further such products in the coming 12 months which will help provide a unique selling point for its services and also enable it to improve overseas revenues. The Group continues to experience interest from potential clients all over the world. It is actively seeking new ways to capitalise on these opportunities including the supply of unique MediaZest designed products which do not necessarily rely on our own installation services, which are difficult to provide in overseas regions without the support of local representative offices.

Outlook

The Group has completed two high profile Olympic related projects in recent weeks and hopes to secure other such contracts in the run up to the event itself. The Company continues to focus on increasing its recurring revenues to counteract the unpredictability of project work. As a result, it has begun to offer more content based services, including audio content, and the Board hopes to announce business in this area in the coming months.

Enquiries:Geoff RobertsonChief Executive OfficerMediaZest Plc 020 7724 5680Gavin Burnell / Rod VenablesNominated AdviserNorthland Capital Partners Limited 020 7796 8800Claire Noyce / Deepak ReddyBrokerHybridan LLP 020 7947 4350Notes to Editors:About MediaZest

MediaZest is a creative media agency that specialises in providing innovative out-of-home marketing solutions to leading retailers, brand owners and corporations, but also works in the public sector in both the NHS and Education markets. The Group supplies an integrated service from content creation and system design to installation, technical support and maintenance. MediaZest was admitted to the London Stock Exchange's AIM market in February 2005. For more information, please visit www.mediazest.com