TIDMIMMO
RNS Number : 5860O
Immotion Group PLC
10 February 2021
Immotion Group plc
("Immotion", the "Company" or the "Group")
New Contract and Trading Update
Immotion Group, the UK-based immersive entertainment group, is
pleased to announce it has signed a contract to provide a new
Undersea Explorer VR Theatre at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in
Florida, USA. This is expected to open in March 2021.
The immersive theatre will include interactive pre-show
exhibits, as well as a 22-seat VR theatre where customers can enjoy
the Group's "Swimming with Humpbacks" VR movie. The installation
will be part of the Aquarium's new Whales: "Living with Giants"
exhibit.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium is one of the leading aquariums and
marine life rescue and research facilities in Florida and was
featured in the films Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2. The facility
is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick and
injured marine animals, public education, conservation and
research. With over 750,000 annual visitors historically, it has
recently completed an $80m upgrade to its facilities and the
Undersea Explorer VR Theatre will be a centrepiece of the new
exhibit space.
The installation will be focused on whales, including Immotion's
interactive "Humpbacks Revealed" exhibit which allows guests to
learn more about the amazing anatomy of these whales, as well as
"Songs of the Sea" which gives guests a window into the humpback's
mesmerizing vocalisations. The pinnacle of the exhibit will be
Immotion's amazing "Swimming with Humpbacks" VR movie, filmed in
the Pacific Ocean off Tonga, the first motion-platform VR film to
capture mother whales and their calves in their natural
habitat.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium agreement allows for a 50:50
revenue share with the Partner, along with a monthly fee to
Immotion to defray installation costs. The contract will initially
be for 12 months, with scope to extend including the addition of
new content to refresh the experience for guests over time.
Locations in Florida are generally open to the public; though
with safety precautions and related restrictions in place.
Location Based Entertainment ("LBE") - Update
U.S.A
In the USA, we have 23 Partner locations. 20 of these are open,
with 18 operating our VR installations. Two further partner
locations remain closed completely and a further one partner site
is mid renovation.
Trading at our operational USA aquarium partner sites is
encouraging for the time of year and given the overall trading
environment.
Other USA non-aquarium partner sites are trading as expected
given the level of restrictions in place and we look forward to
those recovering further as and when restrictions are eased in the
months ahead.
With regard to our site at Shark Reef Aquarium, Mandalay Bay,
Las Vegas, a review of the current restrictions is due by the
Nevada authorities on 15 February 2021 and given the fall in local
Covid cases, the Company is hopeful the current 25% capacity
restriction, which has significantly impacted short term revenues,
may be relaxed to its pre-November levels and then upwards from
there.
In terms of future developments, we have seen a significant
uplift in enquiries from potential new partners and are in
discussions in relation to a number of larger sites in the USA, in
line with our stated strategy of focusing on fewer but higher
traffic sites, which can support larger interactive installations,
and which are a more integral part of the Partner offering.
UK
Whilst the UK LBE business (including our own ImmotionVR
entertainment centres) is sadly still closed, we are hopeful that
as progress is made with the UK vaccination programme, we will
benefit at least from a strong summer of trading and would hope
that we may even see some earlier easing of restrictions. We
believe that there will be considerable pent up consumer demand for
out of home entertainment and the UK leisure market should benefit
from a significant "staycation" season if it opens up for the
summer.
Other Territories
Our installations at Sealife Sydney and Melbourne are open, and
trading is picking up as Australia enters its summer season. In
addition, the Company expects to open a Tower Coaster at the
landmark Sydney Tower Eye in the next few weeks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, whilst our LBE business has experienced very
challenging trading conditions as a result of the various lockdowns
and restrictions, we are increasingly optimistic that as vaccine
programmes take hold in the UK and USA, and as we move towards the
summer in both countries, we will see a strong recovery. We believe
that the longer-term prospects for our LBE business remain
attractive.
As we stated in our end of year update on 23 December 2020, Q1
of this current year will be very challenging for obvious reasons
and we are taking all steps we can, including using the UK furlough
scheme and applying for further available USA government support,
to mitigate the significant financial impact of restrictions caused
by the pandemic.
However, we believe there is cause for optimism looking forward
and we will be well placed to benefit significantly from any easing
of restrictions.
Let's Explore
Following the successful UK launch of the Let's Explore home
entertainment business in Q4 2020, the Company sold over 11,000
units in the build-up to Christmas. The quieter post- Christmas
period has given us the ability to take a breath and focus on
optimising the supply chain, which should see significantly reduced
product cost and the opportunity to plan for growth.
Stock has been bought forward at sufficient scale to allow us to
achieve a circa 40% reduction in product cost and this will support
a USA launch of the Let's Explore Oceans product later this month.
In addition, the product is now available on both UK Amazon and
eBay marketplaces.
The Company believes there is a very significant opportunity for
Christmas 2021 and, unlike 2020 where we launched the product at
very high speed, we will have the ability to plan forward. The
focus is to have all operational, logistical and product elements
in place to capitalise on the Christmas 2021 opportunity, as well
as opening up new geographies in the meantime. In addition, we plan
to develop new genres as we move through the year.
Uvisan
Sales of the UV cabinets continues to grow, with success in a
number of sectors including education (schools and universities),
film and TV production and businesses utilising VR headsets in both
leisure and B2B applications.
The Company has invested proceeds from the sale of the UV
disinfection cabinets into the creation of a proprietary ambient UV
room disinfection system.
The new product uses UVC ultraviolet light, combined with a
proprietary tablet driven, wireless control and safety system, to
offer a simple to install and cost-effective room disinfecting
system.
The new product has the ability to disinfect an un-occupied room
and its surfaces in as little as ten minutes, making it ideal for
both overnight use and particularly for rooms where rapid
turnaround between user groups is required. For example, it is
ideal for school and university classrooms, offices, multi-user
recording and post-production studios, operating theatres and
laboratories to name but a few.
The system has been installed and tested in a University
environment and is currently in the final certification
process.
Along with the Uvisan UV disinfecting cabinets, the Company will
be able to offer a range of products for safe and easy disinfection
of rooms, surfaces and equipment and will look to scale up this
activity through 2021, working with carefully selected
partners.
Commenting on the agreement with Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Rod
Findley, Group Commercial Director, Immotion Group plc said:
"We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Clearwater
Marine Aquarium on this milestone installation. It is a signal that
institutions are looking forward to the post-pandemic world and
making bold steps to give their guests the newest and most exciting
experiences. We're honoured to be part of the first exhibit to go
into the new $80m expansion at the aquarium. With Undersea Explorer
operational in March, we will be well poised to take advantage of
the Spring and Summer traffic."
"As capacity restrictions are lifted, we are confident our
Location Based Entertainment business will recover quickly and
return back to delivering solid revenues.
"As far as new partnerships go, we are very pleased with the
level of inbound enquiries we are seeing for larger installations,
a number of which we believe will come to fruition during this
calendar year".
Enquiries:
For further information please visit www.immotion.co.uk , or
contact:
Immotion Group Martin Higginson Tel: +44 (0) 161
David Marks 235 8505
Rod Findley
WH Ireland Limited Adrian Hadden Tel + 44 (0) 207
(Nomad and Joint Darshan Patel 220 1666
Broker) Matthew Chan
Shard Capital Partners Damon Heath Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186
LLP Erik Woolgar 9900
(Joint Broker)
Alvarium Capital Alex Davies Tel: +44 (0) 207
Partners 195 1433
(Joint Broker)
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as amended by The
Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. Upon the
publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service
this inside information is now considered to be in the public
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