22 Jul 2013 07:00
22 July 2013
reach4entertainment enterprises plc
("r4e" or "the Company" or "the Group")
Trading Update and Board Change
r4e, the transatlantic media and entertainment company, today provides the following update on trading for the six months ended 30 June 2013, ahead of its interim results which are expected to be announced in September 2013.
Trading Update
r4e has enjoyed a positive first half of 2013 and is currently trading in line with market expectations.
Progress has been made across the Group's operations, with Dewynters, r4e's London based theatre marketing business and SpotCo, r4e's New York based theatre marketing business, both producing encouraging results.
Following a productive 2012, Dewynters has continued to trade well, driven by a combination of work with long-term clients on established projects and new projects for both new and existing clients. High profile West End openings worked on during the first half of the year include Book of Mormon, Once, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Audience and The Judas Kiss. The division has also been successful in expanding its business away from the West End with projects including Houghton Revisited.
SpotCo has also performed well in 2013. New show mandates secured in the first half of 2013 include After Midnight, Cabaret, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Pippin, Rocky, Soul Doctor, Telecharge.com, Twelfth Night / Richard III, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Waiting for Godot / No Man's Land. Away from Broadway, SpotCo has also secured mandates for the artwork for Sting's The Last Ship album, The Museum of Sex, A Christmas Story at Madison Square Garden, a further Madison Square Garden entertainment production coming in Spring 2014 and The Sea Monsters touring exhibition.
Newman Displays, r4e's London based signage and fascia business, continues to trade productively and profitably.
The cost conscious culture ingrained as part of the extensive restructuring r4e has carried out in the recent past has also assisted financial performance, with Head Office costs in particular significantly reduced on the corresponding period last year.
Board Change and Senior Management Appointment
Shirley Stapleton, r4e's Group Finance Director, has stepped down and will be leaving the Group on 31 July 2013. Ms Stapleton's core skills and expertise are financial restructuring and she has played an important role in facilitating the various dispositions and general restructuring necessary to transition the Group to its current structure and business. Given that this work is now complete, it has been mutually agreed that it is an appropriate time for Ms Stapleton to depart. r4e has strengthened its finance teams at Group and subsidiary level and, as such, the Company has no plans at the current time to directly replace Ms Stapleton. The Board of r4e would like to place on record its thanks to Ms Stapleton for the significant contribution she has made to r4e in recent years.
r4e today also announces the immediate appointment of Sarah Hall to the newly created position of Group Chief Operating Officer. Ms Hall is currently Managing Director of Dewynters, a role she will continue. Her appointment as Group Chief Operating Officer is designed to drive further integration between Dewynters and SpotCo, enhance the knowledge exchange programme between the two businesses and drive best practice across all Group operations. Ms Hall, who will report to David Stoller, has over 20 years of commercial and operational experience in various industries, including her tenure, over the last two years, as Managing Director of Dewynters.
Commenting, David Stoller, Executive Chairman, said:
"Our trading performance has historically been weighted towards the second half of our financial year, which includes the impact of theatre promotional spend during the key summer and pre-Christmas periods, and it is therefore highly encouraging to report a positive first half year of trading, in line with market expectations.
"We are now seeing tangible evidence of the combination of our restructuring efforts and consistent trading performance across all Group divisions. I am confident that the momentum we have built will continue."
Ends
Enquiries:
reach4entertainment +44 (0) 20 7993 0000
David Stoller, Executive Chairman
Shirley Stapleton, Finance Director
Blythe Weigh Communications +44 (0) 20 7138 3204
Paul Weigh +44 (0) 7989 129658
Eleanor Parry +44 (0) 7551 293620
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe +44 (0) 20 7894 7000
Stewart Dickson/Mark Percy (Corporate Finance)
Katie Ratner (Corporate Broking)
First Columbus +44 (0) 20 3002 2070
Katrina Perez/Kelly Gardiner