logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register Before April 15th for SlatorCon Remote and Save 15%!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
ZOO Digital Shares Plunge on Earnings Miss

2 years ago

January 22, 2019

ZOO Digital Shares Plunge on Earnings Miss

Financial Results ·

by Esther Bond

On January 22, 2019

2 years ago
Financial Results ·

by Esther Bond

On January 22, 2019

ZOO Digital Shares Plunge on Earnings Miss

London-listed media localizer ZOO Digital (ZOO.L) alerted the markets that revenues and earnings for the full year 2019 are set to come in below expectations in a trading update issued on January 22, 2019. The earnings miss triggered a massive sell-off with shares down by 46% at the time of writing, all but wiping out the stock’s gains over the past 12 months.

Full year revenues look set to hit the USD 30m mark, while forecasts were for some USD 33m. Meanwhile, “adjusted EBITDA for the full year will be significantly below expectations,” the trading update says. ZOO has a “largely fixed cost base” and also invested in technology, expanding its freelancer network, and hiring staff to scale up for growth in the first half of 2019. Nonetheless, the company still expects to remain profitable and cash generative.

Stuart Green, ZOO CEO, confirmed to Slator that “hitting our full year forecast for the current year just looks like it’s beyond our reach now.” He said that they “are frustrated that the circumstances have conspired in this way and at a very late stage in the year, but we remain nonetheless excited about what the future has in store because we are adamant that we have the right strategy for the market, and for our customers.”

Advertisement
Slator 2018 Media Localization Report

Slator 2018 Media Localization Report

Data and Research
25-page report. Entertainment media overview. Role of the language services industry. Market size. Competitive landscape. Biz Dev and Sales.
$85 BUY NOW

The earnings miss was caused by a “single, material localisation project,” which was as kicked off but then cancelled by the customer, and an accelerating decline in ZOO’s legacy DVD and Blu-ray business.

Green told Slator that ZOO had begun work on the big project that was expected to complete in second half 2019. As it turned out, the customer had preemptively given the go-ahead on the project, since they were expecting the necessary licensing deal with the relevant content owner to close without hiccups. However, ZOO’s customer was not able to complete the licensing deal, and had to pull the project, Green said. Albeit a small consolation, ZOO did manage to salvage something out of the project and was able to invoice for the work that had been done.

Green also told of the accelerated decline of the DVD and Blu-ray market. Until now, these markets have “obviously been in long-term slow decline,” he said. But the quickening downturn has “started to hit in the second half and beyond.” If the retail market isn’t there for DVD and Blu-ray sales then ZOO’s customers will not decide to produce let alone localize content in these formats, Green explained.

Stuart Green, CEO, ZOO Digital

This type of project, mainly episodic content produced as box sets, typically involves between six and eight times more work than a movie, which explains why customers requesting less of this type of work might leave a dent in revenues. But Green says that ZOO has been counting on declines in this segment and assuming that they won’t be getting much if any more DVD and Blu-ray work, choosing instead to bet on growth in the company’s localization and digital packaging segments.

Green remains positive about the state of the underlying business, with the trading update also stating that “we are now enjoying a growth in orders from our largest clients and expect to add significant new accounts during the remainder of the second half.” Central to ZOO’s proposition is its cloud-based model for subtitling and dubbing, which Green described as “very sought after.”

Slator 2019 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Data and Research, Slator reports
34-page report. Language industry M&A and startup funding. Transaction valuations, trade sales, financial backing, private equity influence, main rationale, seller verticals, geographical analysis, startup funding analysis.
$450 BUY NOW

The idea behind the cloud-based workflows is that they are more automated and less logistics-intense and can therefore deliver localized content to customers faster and cheaper, by reducing or eliminating the need for travel, studio time, synchronising diaries, etc.

The plunge following the trading update sees ZOO shares return to around the levels they were a year ago but down more than 60% from the lofty July 2018 highs. The company’s market capitalization stands at around USD 60m.

TAGS

cloud dubbingcloud subtitlingdubbingmedia localizationScreen SubtitlingStuart GreensubtitlingZoo Digital
SHARE
Esther Bond

By Esther Bond

Research Director at Slator. Localization enthusiast, linguist and inquisitor. London native.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

by Slator

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

XTM Cloud 12.7 “Intelligent Connectivity” is Here

by XTM International

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

by Xillio

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

by XTRF

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Smartling - Global Ready Conference 2021

    Global Ready Conference

    by Smartling

    · April 14

    When you can't traverse the world, let the world come to you. Join our annual global event from home.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

SeproTec

SeproTec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

by Seyma Albarino

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

by Marion Marking

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,800 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.