R4E.L Regulatory News (R4E)

7 Jun 2007 07:01

First Artist Corporation PLC07 June 2007 AGM Statement At today's Annual General Meeting of First Artist Corporation plc ("First Artist" or "the Group"), the integrated marketing, sport and entertainment management group, Jon Smith, Chief Executive, will make the following statement: "First Artist has made considerable progress over the past year in delivering onits strategy of developing the Group into a broad based integrated marketing,sport and entertainment management group. The acquisitions made last summer havenow been fully and successfully integrated and are contributing to the strongperformance of the Group. In particular, the acquisition of Dewynters hassignificantly broadened the Group's business base. Dewynters is an iconic brandin its own right, holding a dominant position in the UK theatre andentertainment industry and with profitable operations in the USA. In April 2007 the Group also acquired Yell Communications which specialises inevents and delegate management and will help the Group to further develop itscorporate events division, The Finishing Touch. We are also pleased to reportthe launch of First Rights Limited, which will act on behalf of sponsorshiprights owners. This is a major area for potential growth and one that willbenefit greatly from being part of the enlarged and expanding group. The Group is currently trading in line with management's expectations. Inparticular, our Sport division has had a successful start to the summer footballtrading window, including the transfers of Jonathan Woodgate to Middlesbroughand Sulley Muntari to Portsmouth. The Sport division should also benefit fromthe knock-on effect of the significantly increased TV rights monies, whichcommence this summer. Our event management business, The Finishing Touch, is trading exceptionallywell, having been boosted by the recovery of the corporate sector. This last year has been the London West End's most successful, and withDewynters having a larger pipeline than ever before for shows planned in 2008,prospects continue to be positive. Dewynters' US merchandising activities alsocontinue to produce strong results from its Las Vegas and New York operations.In addition to Newman Displays' theatre front of house delivery, cinemaproduction work has also expanded further afield, with Newmans producing thedisplay for "Transformers" at the recent Cannes Film Festival. The Board remains optimistic about the Group's continued growth for theremainder of the year and beyond." -ends- Enquiries First Artist Corporation plcJon Smith, Chief ExecutiveRichard Hughes, Group Managing Director Tel: +44(0) 208 900 1818 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialPeter Otero / Rosanne Perry Tel: +44(0) 207 861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange