MIRA.L Regulatory News (MIRA)

15 Nov 2005 07:01

Yoomedia PLC15 November 2005 YooMedia plc / Ticker: YOO / Market: AIM / Sector: Media 15th November 2005 YooMedia PLC ("YooMedia" or the "Company") Trading Update & William Hill Partnership YooMedia plc, the AIM-traded interactive media and games group, is pleased toannounce that it has updated its agreement with William Hill, which will resultin improved commercial terms and conditions for YooMedia. These includeproviding a daily interactive afternoon show for Channel 425's in-store pilotfor which YooMedia will receive production fees. YooMedia Chairman, Michael Sinclair, said: "Our partnership with William Hill isimportant to the business and we are very happy that this new agreement is inplace. We expect to generate significant ongoing revenue from the partnershipand we are looking forward to being part of William Hill's innovative pilot." Further to this announcement, YooMedia provides the following update toinvestors on its current trading and strategy. The Company announced in June 2005 and in its interim results released inSeptember 2005, that its Gambling and Games division would achieve lower thanexpected revenue for the year ending 31 December 2005. This underperformance hascontinued with the division remaining loss making for the year to date. TheDirectors expect the performance of this division to materially improvefollowing the re-negotiation of the William Hill contract, which will now make apositive contribution to company profits in 2006. However, due to the time takento re-negotiate the contract, the Directors do not believe the Company will becash flow positive until the first quarter of 2006 and that market expectationof EBITDA for 2005 will be below that originally anticipated at the interimstage. To date the Company has managed the impact of these delays on cash flowwithin its banking facilities, and is currently exploring a number of availableoptions for strengthening its balance sheet. During the last three months the Board has conducted an in-depth review of theCompany's activities. This has resulted in a decision to explore strategicalternatives for its Dating division following preliminary approaches from thirdparties. The significant value of the Dating business is, in the Director'sopinion, obscured in the Company as a whole. Such alternatives are expected toprovide both increased marketing opportunities for the division and strengthenthe Company's balance sheet. Further announcements will be made in due course as appropriate. * * ENDS * * Contacts: Neil MacDonald YooMedia plc Tel: 020 7462 0870 Isabel Crossley St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 Notes on YooMedia plc YooMedia is one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment companies inthe UK. Essentially, it develops and delivers premium interactive content andservices to households and individuals via TV, the web, telephony and mobilephones. It has four main divisions: • YooMedia Dating - manages dating brands including Dateline and Avenues from over 20 locations throughout the UK. Operates across traditional media, digital TV, internet and mobile phones. • YooMedia Gambling & Games - interactive fixed odds, play for fun casino and poker related games services for digital TV, the web and mobile phones. Brands include Avago and Channel 425. It also manages YooPlay, the only interactive games channel found on all four Digital TV platforms in the UK. • YooMedia Enhanced Solutions (YES) - delivers interactive content that enhances consumer and audience experiences. Customers include the BBC, Nestle, Celador, William Hill, Channel 4, ZipTV, The Cartoon Network and HR Owen. • YooMedia Public Sector - provides digital solutions/media services to leading public sector organisations including the NHS Direct Interactive TV service for the Department of Health, the Learning and Skills Council TV Kickstart service and a range of local authority TV services. The Group's experienced management team includes: Chairman, Dr. MichaelSinclair, who holds a number of directorships in both the UK and the USA havingpreviously founded Lifetime Corporation; and Managing Director, Neil MacDonald,whose career spans 11 years in multimedia and interactive sectors plus a further19 years in the retail industry. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange