PFO.L Regulatory News (PFO)

7 Jan 2008 07:00

VTR PLC07 January 2008 7th January, 2008 VTR plc VTR plc secures the business interests of Clarke Associates London VTR plc welcomes Simon Clarke to its global offering VTR plc ("VTR") is pleased to announce that it has secured the businessinterests of Clarke Associates London Limited ("Clarke Associates") and theservices of Simon Clarke, its Creative Director, and his team. The deal bringsSimon's high profile and breadth of experience to VTR, and gives Simon access tothe extensiveness of the VTR global offering and its industry expertise. As partof this deal, VTR plc has acquired certain technical equipment, including 3Dworkstations, 3D render farm and associated software from Clarke Associates. With over 13 years in the industry, Simon's award winning contribution toBroadcast Visual Effects has been recognised by his clients and piers throughflagship programmes and series for the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery andChannel 4. His design and branding background has also enabled him to work withmany leading commercials and production agencies on a range of multi-platformcampaigns. Simon's body of work includes Lost Cities (BBC), Mega Structures(National Geographic) and Superstorm (BBC). In consideration, VTR will issue 100,000 new VTR plc ordinary shares to ClarkeAssociates and a cash payment of £30,000. Accordingly, application has been madefor the 100,000 new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it isexpected that admission will take place on 8th January 2008. The new ordinaryshares will rank pari passu with the existing shares of the Company. Followingthis allotment, the total issued share capital of the Company will increase to29,081,276 ordinary shares. Namit Malhotra, Chairman of VTR plc and Prime Focus Group, said: "Simon fitsperfectly into our strategy of ensuring we have the best talent and facilitiesto support our global client base as part of the Prime Focus Group of companies.Simon is a welcome addition to the team." Simon Clarke commented: "I am thrilled to be joining the VTR group of companiesand consider this to be a great opportunity. My expertise in commercials andvisual effects will compliment the company's existing global offer, and will bea springboard for greater prospects going forward." - ENDS - Notes to editors VTR plc (Prime Focus UK) is the holding company of the Prime Focus UK Group, oneof Europe's leading high-end media services groups. Based in Soho, London, themain divisions - Prime Focus London and blue post production - cover betweenthem every aspect of professional post-production, and each company hasestablished an international reputation in its chosen field. The Prime Focus UK Group produces work of the highest quality across all areasof the post-production industry, including: high-end visual effects and digitalintermediate (DI) for cinema releases; television commercials; long-form andshort-form broadcast projects; CGI animation; design and motion graphics; poppromos; sound design, mixing and composition; and film and video restoration. In addition the group designs, builds and implements online interactivecommunication tools for a wide variety of clients. Its portfolio includesdigital asset management systems, state-of-the-art encoding services, websitedesign and hosting, mobile content encoding and delivery, and professional DVDauthoring facilities. VTR plc (Prime Focus UK) is owned by Prime Focus Limited, India's foremostintegrated end-to-end post-production and visual effects services facility. Asthe largest Autodesk Fire / Smoke site in the world, the largest site forThomson Spirit in the Asia-Pacific region, and with its recent acquisitions inLondon, Prime Focus Limited has emerged as a major force in the internationalpost-production industry. Contacts Ryszard Bublik Parys Communications 020 7622 9951Catriona McDermott Neil Lane VTR plc, Managing director 020 7437 0026 Philip Davies Charles Stanley Securities 020 7149 6000(Nominated Adviser) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange