Immotion Group plc (LON:IMMO), the UK-based immersive entertainment group, has announced the opening and signing of the following new partner sites in its core Location Based Entertainment business, scheduled to bring a total of 24 new seats into operation:
· Akron Zoo, Ohio, USA – Immotion has put a 6-seat installation into Akron Zoo. The attraction will open on 16 April 2022.
· Seattle Aquarium, Washington, USA – Started operations in late March.
· Sea Life Manchester – Manchester now joins the fold of installations in Sea Life venues, with six seats in a new three-year deal.
· New Aquarium site USA. The Company has signed and completed the installation this week of a new six seat mini-theatre, with operations scheduled to begin later this month, subject to state certification, under a three-year contract (cannot be named until state certification is received).
· Sea Life London – In addition to these new signings, Sea Life London, one of our top sites, has signed a new three-year deal, which will see the number of seats further expanded to 16 in a themed, mini-theatre style installation. Once complete this should take us into the peak summer period with double the capacity of last year.
Including the increased capacity at Odysea Aquarium and Shark Reef Aquarium, located inside Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, this will bring the total number of new seats installed in 2022 to 42.
Following these installations, the Company will have 402 headsets operational across 49 sites.
Following the launch of our Gorilla Trek immersive experience at IAAPA in November last year, we are at an advanced stage of negotiations with a number of major zoos. We look forward to announcing some significant additional zoo signings in the coming weeks.
Results & Trading Update
Early trading in 2022 has been pleasing with unaudited revenue for the first quarter being more than double that of Q1 2021 at circa £2.0m compared to £0.8m for 2021 (Location Based Entertainment revenue was circa £1.8m compared to £0.6m in the same period last year). March revenue of circa £1.0m was bolstered by the US spring break and the increased capacity at Mandalay Bay.
The full year results for the year ending 31 December 2021 will be released to the market on 26 April 2022, at which stage we will update the market further on both the Home Based Entertainment and Uvisan operations, as well as progress in our core LBE division.
Subject to final audit, we expect the underlying financial results for 2021 to be EBITDA of circa £0.9m on total revenue of £9.4m.
Rod Findley, Group Commercial Director said:
“With our aquarium offering we have carved ourselves a category in which we believe we are the market leader. Our immersive films offer our partners the ability to both educate and entertain their customers in a new and unique way, while driving significant additional revenue for them. We are excited to be rolling this model out into the global zoo market.”
Martin Higginson, CEO, Immotion Group plc said:
“Delivering EBITDA of circa £0.9m on revenue of £9.4m compared to revenue of £2.8m and an EBITDA loss of £1.7m in 2020 shows the progress the Company has made.
“Trading in the first quarter of this year, especially in our Location Based Entertainment business, has been very encouraging. With unaudited Group revenues for the first quarter of 2022 more than double that of the same period last year we are poised for further solid year on year growth. It is great to be adding a further 24 headsets to the portfolio and to be hitting the 400 headset mark.
“The roll-out of our Gorilla Trek experience into Zoo partners is well underway, and with several sizeable theatre style installations in the wings we are confident the zoo market and other prospects will help us move closer towards the 500 headset mark.
“We look forward to updating the market on 26 April 2022 when we present the full year audited results for 2021.”
