‘Green shoots of recovery’ in sight for virtual reality group Immotion

Immotion Group, the Salford-based virtual reality specialist, said it is encouraged by uptake at its new 22-seat ‘Undersea Explorer’ theatre which opened last weekend (March 21) at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida.

Footfall at the aquarium was strong and the early uptake of its installation was very encouraging, it said.

In the USA, the majority of the company’s location-based entertainment (LBE) partner sites are now open and trading as COVID-related restrictions are beginning to ease. Immotion said it is seeing an improving picture in the USA as we enter spring break and expects to see this continue into the Easter period.

Also, from March 15, capacity restrictions in Nevada, where its largest installation at Shark Reef Aquarium, Las Vegas, is based, have now been relaxed.

Permitted capacity is now back at 50%, the level which applied when Immotion Group opened the site in August 2020: “We are hopeful that this will improve further towards the summer months if restrictions are lifted further,” it said.

The ‘Tower Coaster’ installation opened at Sydney Tower Eye on March 5, giving the company three sites in Australia, all of which are fully open.

The large majority of its LBE sites in the USA and UK are expected to be trading in the summer, with UK sites expected to re-open on May 17. A small number of new sites are expected to open ahead of the UK/USA summer.

The group said its Home-Based Entertainment product, ‘Let’s Explore Oceans’, was soft launched into the USA during the first week of March 2021, with initial orders being fulfilled from the UK.

Early sales have been encouraging, it said, and the group will be increasing its USA-focused marketing activity and will, from early April 2021, be fulfilling USA demand from its fulfilment partner in Wisconsin, USA.

The group’s unique cleaning product, Uvisan, continues to make steady progress with the new ‘Cleanroom by Uvisan’ product currently undergoing third-party lab certification.

Immotion Group CEO, Martin Higginson, said: “With new sites opening to encouraging footfall, the USA and UK on a pathway back to normality, and Australia fully open, we are beginning to see the green shoots of recovery.

“Early sales of the ‘Let’s Explore Oceans’ product in the USA have got off to a good start, and we now have the stock and logistics in place to accelerate the growth potential in this key market.”

He added: “The combination of a recovered Location Based Entertainment business with solid summer-time revenues, along with the Home Based offering, which we believe will see peak sales in Q4, has the makings of a well-balanced business.

“We look forward to updating the market further on our plans, along with a detailed trading update on 29th April 2021.”

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