Subtitling specialist doubles revenue in ‘extremely successful’ year
ZOO Digital, the Sheffield-based subtitling specialist, has said it is looking to the future with confidence after seeing revenue almost double in what its CEO called an “extremely successful” year for the group.
The firm, which provides foreign language sub-titling, captioning and dubbing in all languages and distribution formats across the world, reported revenue of $28.6m in the year to the end of March, a 73% increase from $16.5m the year before.
EBITDA adjusted for share-based payments grew by 35% to $2.4m.
The company said the successful launch of its dubbing service at the end of the first half of the year was a major milestone, adding a powerful second arm to its growth strategy and provides it with the opportunity to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for localisation services, although having a short term downward impact on profit margins.
The group reported a loss before tax of $5.0m (2017: profit $0.5m), and an adjusted profit before tax of $0.5 million (2017: loss of $0.1m).
Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital, said: “This has been another extremely successful year for the group, delivering considerable revenue growth while expanding our offering. It is clear that we are operating in a market which is right for our approach, where our technological innovation can facilitate greater scalability for all of our client groups.
“ZOO is increasingly viewed as a significant player in the media localisation market, and with the introduction of dubbing we have achieved a key milestone on our journey towards becoming a one stop shop for all media localisation and digital packaging services across all languages. Through the development of our innovative technology, we are facilitating the ongoing disruption and growth of the digital entertainment market and we will continue to invest in innovation, quality and security to ensure we remain at the forefront of our industry.
“Our sales pipeline continues to grow across our offerings, both from existing and new customers, giving us confidence in achieving on-going organic growth. With a strengthened balance sheet, enlarged commercial team and augmented offering, we look to the future with confidence.”
The company also announced it has hired Phillip Blundell as chief financial officer.
Blundell joins ZOO with a strong pedigree in senior finance and operational roles within UK technology public companies, including DotDigital Group, Eagle Eye Solutions Group and Intelligent Environments.
He has more than 20 years’ experience building strong software businesses through product innovation and global strategic partnerships.
Current CFO, Helen Gilder, will remain with the company through to the end of July.
