2 Dec 2020 07:00
2 December 2020
Ocean Outdoor Limited
("Ocean" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Board Change
Ocean Outdoor Limited (LSE: OOUT), a leading operator of premium Digital Out-of-Home ("DOOH") advertising, announces that its Co-Chairman, Tom Goddard, will be stepping down from the Board, effective 31 December 2020, in order to focus on his other business interests, including his work as President of the World Out of Home Organization, the global trade body for OOH operators.
Ocean is pleased to confirm that Mr. Goddard will remain a special advisor to the Company and its leadership team, allowing Ocean to still benefit from his extensive expertise going forward.
Aryeh B. Bourkoff, Co-Chairman of the Board of the Company, will become the Company's sole Chairman, also effective 31 December 2020.
A seasoned industry veteran, Tom Goddard has been Chairman of Ocean since July 2009. Under Tom's chairmanship, Ocean has transformed into a leading pure-play digital operator across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Germany, and is well-positioned to increase scale with meaningful organic and inorganic growth opportunities ahead.
Commenting, Mr. Bourkoff said: "On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Tom for his many contributions to and leadership of Ocean. Tom has been instrumental in building Ocean and its unique vision to be a pure-play digital company in out-of-home advertising.
"As Chairman of Ocean and one of its largest shareholders, I am confident that our unique set of digital and premium assets and strong balance sheet, position us well for the future. I commend our management team for the quick and decisive actions they have taken over the past few months to navigate these challenging times."
Ocean's CEO Tim Bleakley said: "Tom has provided us with tremendous stewardship throughout this part of our epic voyage, challenging us, cheering us on, mentoring us and consistently maintaining the right equilibrium and balance across all the stakeholder groups. We are pleased to retain his ongoing input as we re-build. With the continued support of the Board chaired by Aryeh, we will remain highly energized and restless until we have fully bounced back from the pandemic."
Commenting, Tom Goddard said: "I always trust my instincts and after a wonderfully enjoyable decade in the Chair of this unique and special company, I felt now is the right time for me to pass the baton on to Aryeh, who is an outstanding and talented businessman and friend, under whom I have no doubt Ocean will continue to grow and prosper enormously".
For further information please contact:
Ocean Outdoor Tim Bleakley, CEO Susann Jerry, Head of Corporate Communications
| 020 7292 6161 |
Yellow Jersey PR Charles Goodwin Georgia Colkin | 0774 778 8221 |
About Ocean Outdoor
Ocean Outdoor operates some of the most prestigious digital out-of-home (DOOH) locations in the UK, Northern and Continental Europe. The Group portfolio includes 4,000 screens in seven countries and 270 cities.
In the UK, Ocean operates the most iconic DOOH locations including the BFI IMAX; the Landsec Piccadilly Lights; and has a significant presence in the top 13 UK cities. Ocean's high-profile landlords and partners include Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Southampton City Councils, Landsec, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the BFI and Intu. A continued focus on Ocean's Digital Cities for Digital Citizens philosophy has significantly augmented the Group's position as an operator of high quality DOOH assets. Ocean continues to deliver good organic development through new City tender wins, the rollout of new locations in Scotland, London, the West Midlands and Manchester and significant screen investment.
Strategic acquisitions that complement the existing DOOH portfolio remain a strategic pillar of the growth programme. This continued with three Dutch acquisitions in spring 2019, giving the company a significant share of the Netherlands market where it has become a major DOOH player. These subsidiaries have since been rebranded as Ocean Outdoor Netherlands.
In September 2019, Ocean acquired the assets of Visual Art, a Sweden based independent, pure-play DOOH media and tech group which operates in three Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) and key cities in Germany. This transaction expands Ocean's portfolio across 23 Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield shopping malls in Europe, in addition to holding the exclusive external rights to two of the largest premium urban shopping malls in Europe: Westfield London and Westfield Stratford in the UK.
In February 2020, Ocean closed the acquisition of AdCityMedia, a Sweden-based premium out-of-home and digital screen tech operator focused on large format digital and high-end city centre locations across Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The combined entities of Visual Art and AdCityMedia, referred to as Ocean Outdoor Nordics, creates the leading DOOH operator in the region.