Prime Focus Share Discussion Threads

[tara7] 25/4/2011 20:21

Broker report POF INDIA:

GICS Industry : Media l Sub Industry : Movies & Entertainment l Website : www.primefocusworld.com
NSE Ticker : PFOCUS
Bloomberg Ticker : PRIF:IN
Face value / Share: 10.0
Div. Yield (%): 0.0
CMP (as on 21 Mar 2011 -Rs/share): 42.7
52-week range up to 21 Mar 2011 (Rs)(H/L): 748.00/40.20
Market Cap as on 21 Mar 2011 (Rs mn): 5,930
Enterprise Value as on 21 Mar 2011 (Rs mn): 10,355
Div. Yield (%): 0.0
Shares outstanding (mn) : 138.9
Free Float (%) : 50.3
Average daily volumes (12 months) : 168,674
Beta (2 year) : 1.5


Prime Focus Limited (PFL) is a global visual entertainment services group. It was incorporated in
1997. The company provides end-to-end digital post production and visual effects services to the
media and entertainment industry, including film and television. PFL provides creative and
technical services for the film, broadcast, commercials, Internet, media and gaming industries.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Top player in global post-production and visual effects segment
PFL is amongst the Top 4 post-production and visual effects (VFX) studios in the world, alongside
such giants as Technicolor, Deluxe and Ascent Media. The company provides services from preproduction
to final delivery, including pre-visualisation, equipment hire, visual effects, video and
audio post-production, digital intermediate, digital asset management and distribution. PFL's new
65,000 sq ft global headquarters in Mumbai has one of the largest integrated post-production
facilities in the world today.
Software developed to convert 2D films into 3D
3D has opened up a new and large revenue avenue for PFL; the company dominates the 3D space
with its Worldsourcing model. The company has developed a software - View-D - that converts
existing 2D films into 3D with very high quality. Within eight weeks, the company converted a fulllength
feature film (Clash of the Titans) into a 3D production. PFL has also worked on James
Cameron's blockbuster 3D movie Avatar in the recent past. The company's Mumbai facility now
houses seven stereoscopic 3D theatres and over 600 artist seats. 3D task team handles all aspects
of data wrangling, footage conversion, correction, conforming and delivery.
Footprint in three key production markets
PFL has a footprint in key production markets - Hollywood, London and Mumbai. It has 16
facilities across three continents and five time zones. Its leading hubs are London, Hollywood, New
York and Mumbai. The company has supporting facilities in Vancouver, Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa
and technology development centres in Bangalore and Winnipeg (Canada). The company has
acquired leading studios and boutique firms in the US and the UK to expand it horizon and gain
access to new technologies. For FY10, the geographical revenue break-up was: India ~19%, UK
~34%, US ~22%, Canada ~17% and other countries ~8%.
KEY RISKS
• Intense competition from local as well as international players
• Lack of availability of skilled personnel
• Decrease in production activities of films and TV programs could affect the business of
the company
• Technological obsolescence and foreign currency fluctuations
YTD 1-m 3-m 12-m
PFOCUS 77 -13 -31 98
NIFTY 1 -3 -11 3
Returns (%)
Note:
1) YTD returns are since April 1, 2010 to Mar 21, 2011.
2) 1-m, 3-m and 12-m returns are up to Mar 21, 2011.
Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10
Revenue (Rs mn) 2,244.4 3,553.8 4,532.5
EBITDA margins (%) 31.4 15.5 26.5
PAT (Rs mn) 29.5 157.6 393.9
PAT margins (%) 1.3 4.4 8.7
Gearing (x) 1.9 3.4 4.6
EPS (Rs /share) 2.3 12.3 30.7
PE (x) 296.0 6.8 1.4
P/BV (x) 4.7 0.8 0.5
RoCE (%) 4.1 5.4 11.7
RoE (%) 1.5 9.6 32.5
EV/EBITDA (x) 16.8 9.5 4.1
n.m. : Not meaningful
Promoter
50%
FII
14%
DII
2%
Others
34%
0
50
100
150
200
250
Mar-10
Apr-10
May-10
Jun-10
Jul-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Jan-11
Feb-11
(index)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
('000)
Volumes (RHS) PFOCUS NIFTY
Indexed price chart
Shareholding (As on December 31, 2010)
Key Financial Indicators
Stock Performances vis-à-vis market
CRISIL

Prime Focus Limited
BACKGROUND
PFL is one of the largest end-to-end post production service companies in the world. It was incorporated in 1997. The company started offering digital post production
services for the big screen in 2001, the first Spirit DataCine (a specialist film scanner) in 2003 and the first motion control rig in 2004. PFL provides digital post-production
services to the media and entertainment industry, including film and television. PFL offers creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, gaming,
Internet and media industries. Its services include pre-visualisation, equipment hire, visual effects, video and audio post-production, digital intermediate, digital asset
management and distribution.
Through its Worldsourcing business model, the company operates across the entire visual entertainment sector in every major market and at every stage of a project's
development. In FY10, the company executed various projects of Bollywood, international projects and commercials. Some of these projects include movies like Raavan,
My Name is Khan, 3 Idiots, Wanted, Avatar, Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, The Twilight Saga and commercials like Indigo's "On time", Volkswagen Beetle "Valet",
Samsung "Wave" and Reliance Mobile "Simply", etc.
COMPETITIVE POSITION
Peer Comparison
Prime Focus
Limited
Crest Animation
Studios Limited
UTV Software
Communications Ltd
Pentamedia
Graphics Ltd.
PeriodEndsOn Mar-10 Mar-10 Mar-10 Mar-10
Revenue (Rs mn) 4,532.5 637.3 6,682.6 540.3
EBITDA margins (%) 26.5 27.7 11.9 30.2
PAT (Rs mn) 393.9 5.2 439.4 157.0
PAT margins (%) 8.7 0.8 6.6 29.1
Gearing (x) 4.6 0.2 2.4 0.2
EPS (Rs /share) 30.7 0.2 10.8 0.0
PE (x) 1.4 229.8 44.4 136.4
P/BV (x) 0.5 1.4 4.8 0.1
RoCE (%) 11.7 6.5 5.5 3.3
RoE (%) 32.5 0.6 5.7 3.7
EV/EBITDA (x) 4.1 7.0 35.7 7.8
n.m: Not meaningful
FINANCIAL PROFILE
Revenue growth slows, but EBITDA margin rebounds, PAT leaps
PFL registered a strong top line growth of ~42% CAGR between FY08 and FY10.
Revenues grew to Rs 4.5 bn in FY10 from Rs 2.2 bn in FY08. Top line for FY10 showed
a ~27% growth over FY09. Growth in FY10 was largely on account of increase in
revenues from the UK, the USA and Canada by ~28%, 23% and 47%, respectively.
EBITDA margin grew ~1,100 basis points in FY10 to 26.5% from 15.5% in FY09. This
was on account of reduction in employee cost as a percentage of sales, which fell
from 31.23% in FY09 to 24.21% in FY10, and a reduction in power and fuel cost by
~8% over the previous year.
PAT increased ~150% to Rs 394 mn from Rs 157 mn in FY09, on account of increase
in operating profit. However, PAT growth was tempered by an increase in interest
and depreciation costs for the year.
Units Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10
Revenue Rs mi l l ion 2,244.4 3,553.8 4,532.5
EBITDA margins Per cent 31.4 15.5 26.5
PAT Rs mi l l ion 29.5 157.6 393.9
PAT margins Per cent 1.3 4.4 8.7
Revenue growth Per cent 14.4 58.3 27.5
EBITDA growth Per cent 24.2 -21.9 118.0
PAT growth Per cent -86.9 433.9 149.9
Gearing Times 1.9 3.4 4.6
RoCE Per cent 4.1 5.4 11.7
RoE Per cent 1.5 9.6 32.5
Key Financial Indicators
INDUSTRY PROFILE
Media and Entertainment
The Indian Media and Entertainment industry experienced a modest growth of 6 per cent in 2009 reaching a size of around Rs 613 billion. The industry went through a
tough phase in 2009 due to the economic slowdown which resulted in a decline in ad spends. With improvement in macroeconomic environment and advertising budgets
coming back on track, the Media & Entertainment industry has recovered reasonably. Subscription revenues, which maintained healthy growth during the slowdown period
as well are also in growth trajectory, driven by the growing subscriber base for DTH and digital cable players and the increased penetration of print in regional


Prime Focus Limited
ANNUAL RESULTS
Income Statement Balance sheet
(Rs million ) Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10 (Rs million ) Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10
Net Sales 2,221.3 3,543.7 4,527.8 Equity share capital 128.2 128.2 128.2
Operating Income 2,244.4 3,553.8 4,532.5 Reserves and surplus 1,746.3 1,283.8 887.2
Tangible net worth 1,874.5 1,412.0 1,015.4
EBITDA 705.4 551.0 1,201.1 Deferred tax l iabl i ty:|asset| 105.0 76.1 98.2
EBITDA Margin 31.4 15.5 26.5 Long-term debt 2,584.8 3,846.1 3,578.6
Short-term-debt 917.5 900.6 1,058.7
Depreciation 289.2 379.1 425.9 Total debt 3,502.4 4,746.7 4,637.2
Interest 159.3 171.3 199.6 Current l iabi l ities 639.1 715.6 1,036.3
Other Income 44.1 67.8 51.2 Total provisions 20.7 1.2 1.5
Total liabilities 6,141.7 6,951.6 6,788.6
PBT 16.8 146.1 502.7 Gross block 4,369.2 6,743.0 6,218.2
PAT 29.5 157.6 393.9 Net fixed assets 2,578.7 4,399.5 4,363.0
Investments 150.8 108.0 96.9
PAT Margin 1.3 4.4 8.7 Current assets 3,412.1 2,444.1 2,328.6
Receivables 893.7 1,032.6 1,230.4
No. of shares (Mn No.) 12.7 12.8 12.8 Inventories 2.4 37.4 20.2
Cash 408.2 613.6 212.4
Earnings per share (EPS) 2.3 12.3 30.7 Total assets 6,141.6 6,951.6 6,788.5
Cash flow Ratio
(Rs million ) Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10 Mar-08 Mar-09 Mar-10
Pre-tax profit 300.9 68.5 626.9 Revenue growth (%) 14.4 58.3 27.5
Total tax paid 0.5 -17.4 -86.7 EBITDA growth(%) 24.2 -21.9 118.0
Depreciation 289.2 379.1 425.9 PAT growth(%) -86.9 433.9 149.9
Change in working capital -1,612.9 1,230.5 35.1
EBITDA margins(%) 31.4 15.5 26.5
Cash flow from operating activities -1,022.3 1,660.7 1,001.2 Tax rate (%) -6.1 1.2 17.0
Capi tal Expenditure -1,220.7 -2,394.4 -1,001.6 PAT margins (%) 1.3 4.4 8.7
Investments and others 0.7 42.8 11.1
Dividend payout (%) 64.6 0.0 0.0
Dividend per share (Rs) 1.5 0.0 0.0
Cash flow from investing activities -1,220.0 -2,351.6 -990.5 BV (Rs) 147.3 110.1 79.2
Equi ty raised/(repaid) -300.8 1.0 0.0 Return on Equi ty (%) 1.5 9.6 32.5
Debt raised/(repaid) 2,569.1 1,244.3 -109.4 Return on capi tal employed (%) 4.1 5.4 11.7
Dividend (incl . tax) -22.3 0.0 0.0
Others (incl extraordinaries) 66.9 -348.9 -302.4 Gearing (x) 1.9 3.4 4.6
Interest coverage (x) 4.4 3.2 6.0
Debt/EBITDA (x) 5.0 8.6 3.9
Cash flow from financing activities 2,312.9 896.4 -411.8
Change in cash posi tion 70.6 205.5 -401.1 Asset turnover (x) 0.5 0.6 0.7
Opening cash 337.5 408.2 613.6 Current ratio (x) 2.2 1.5 1.1
Closing cash 408.2 613.6 212.4 Gross current assets (days) 540 233 158
n.m : Not meaningful;
QUARTERLY RESULTS
(Rs million) Dec-10 % of Rev Dec-09 % of Rev Sep-10 % of Rev Dec-10 % of Rev Dec-09 % of Rev
No of Months 3 3 3 9 9
Revenue 328.8 1 00.0 215.6 1 00.0 371.6 1 00.0 9 62.3 1 00.0 6 83.6 1 00.0
EBITDA 113.1 3 4.4 103.7 4 8.1 1 79.6 48.3 4 15.6 43.2 3 41.5 49.9
Interes t 34.5 1 0.5 - - 3 8.1 1 0.2 1 04.6 10.9 9 7.3 1 4.2
Depreciation 59.5 1 8.1 47.7 2 2.1 60.4 1 6.3 1 72.8 18.0 1 48.4 21.7
PBT 19.1 5 .8 56.0 2 6.0 81.1 2 1.8 1 38.2 14.4 9 5.7 1 4.0
PAT 44.4 1 3.5 20.8 9 .7 5 4.1 1 4.6 1 27.8 13.3 6 3.8 9.3
Profit and loss account
CRISIL COMPANY REPORT | 4
Prime Focus Limited
FOCUS CHARTS & TABLES
Mar 2010 Jun 2010 Sep 2010 Dec 2010
Promoter 53.9 53.9 53.9 49.7
FII 11.2 9.5 10.3 14.4
DII 0.6 0.1 0.3 1.7
Others 34.3 36.5 35.6 34.1
Shareholding Pattern (Per cent)
Director Name Designation
Naresh Mahendranath Malhotra
(Mr.)
Executive Chai rman, Wholetime
Di rector, Promoter-Di rector
Nami t Naresh Malhotra (Mr.) Managing Di rector, Promoter-Di rector,
Wholetime Di rector
Padmanabha Gopal Aiyar (Mr.) Non-Executive Di rector
Rivkaran Singh Rivjot Chadha
(Mr.)
Non-Executive Di rector
Chandi r Gobind Gidwani (Mr.) Non-Executive Di rector
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (Mr.) Non-Executive Di rector
Srinivasan Kodi Raghavan (Mr.) Non-Executive Di rector
Board of Directors
Additional Disclosure
This report has been sponsored by NSE - Investor Protection Fund Trust (NSEIPFT).
Disclaimer
This report is based on data publicly available or from sources considered reliable. CRISIL Ltd. (CRISIL) does not represent that it is accurate or complete and hence, it should not be relied upon as
such. The data / report is subject to change without any prior notice. Opinions expressed herein are our current opinions as on the date of this report. Nothing in this report constitutes investment,
legal, accounting or tax advice or any solicitation, whatsoever. The subscriber / user assume the entire risk of any use made of this data / report. CRISIL especially states that, it has no financial
liability whatsoever, to the subscribers / users of this report. This report is for the personal information only of the authorised recipient in India only. This report should not be reproduced or
redistributed or communicated directly or indirectly in any form to any other person – especially outside India or published or copied in whole or in part, for any purpose.
CRISIL is not responsible for any errors and especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to the subscribers / users / transmitters / distributors of this report. For information please
contact 'Client Servicing' at [phone], or via e-mail: [e-mail].

[tara7] 25/4/2011 18:17

From Nov last year staff numbers have jumped from 2,250 to 3,500 in under 6 months.

[tara7] 25/4/2011 18:15

From last year.!!!!

GROWTH,GROWTH,GROWTH.

Prime Focus handpicks hottest vfx talent to launch Prime Focus Film - November 17th, 2010, 09:38 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prime Focus handpicks hottest vfx talent to launch Prime Focus Film

London, UK, November 17, 2010 – Prime Focus has recruited a handpicked team of some of the vfx industry's top talent to launch Prime Focus Film, a new film vfx and stereoscopy facility based in the heart of London. The new offering has been designed from the ground up to offer an exciting alternative to London's established vfx companies, challenging the conventions and traditional practices which have become commonplace in the industry and promoting a new way of engaging with filmmakers.

Martin Hobbs, former board director and head of film production at MPC, is managing director of the new division, which encompasses both film vfx and View-D™, Prime Focus' proprietary 2D to stereo 3D conversion process. "This is a bold statement of intent – a new business model, launched with drive, energy, enthusiasm and experience at a pivotal time for the vfx industry," said Hobbs. "I'm thrilled that so many big industry names share our vision. To have this level of senior creative and production talent involved in a new business is unprecedented."

A host of award-winning artists are already on board, including: Oscar-winning vfx supervisor Jon Thum, who won his Academy Award for his work on The Matrix; acclaimed animation director Michael Eames (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Where The Wild Things Are); respected animation supervisor Pablo Grillo (The Golden Compass, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire); vfx supervisor Stuart Lashley (GI Joe, Watchmen); CG supervisor Alex Pejic (Inception, The Dark Knight); vfx producer Fiona Foster (Angels and Demons, Robin Hood); and head of pipeline Alexis Casas, who was instrumental in setting up animation pipelines at Mac Guff and Weta Digital on Avatar.

A new digital art department has also been set up, led by vfx art director Neil Miller, whose credits include Children of Men and The Da Vinci Code, and including internationally acclaimed matte painter and concept artist Ludo Iochem (The Bourne Ultimatum, Stardust).

Film vfx consultant Michael Elson, who was previously responsible for building the film business at MPC, has been advising Prime Focus on the new venture. "This is a fascinating time for the VFX business," commented Elson. "The film industry is going through huge change, and the business models we built our old businesses on have to fundamentally change too. Alongside this, there's a groundswell of common thought among artists – a shared belief that there's a better way in which they can do their jobs. This is what I believe Prime Focus Film is all about – a new business model which gives filmmakers access to both the best local talent and the scale and infrastructure of a global group, while allowing artists to engage more closely with filmmakers, and at an earlier stage in the process."

An example of this new approach is Prime Focus Film's work on the new stereo 3D Judge Dredd motion picture, which started principal photography last week. Prime Focus Film are aligned as creative partners with the filmmakers on the project, providing conceptual, planning, production design and pre-visualization work in addition to supplying a full slate of stereo vfx services and converting key shots - which could not be captured on set - to stereo 3D using View-D.

The new division also houses the View-D team, led by Matt Bristowe, one of London's most respected DI producers. Other members of the View-D team are producer Marcus Alexander and View-D stereo supervisors Richard Baker and Ben Murray. Over the last year, View-D has been established as a globally recognized industry leader in high-end, creatively-led 3D conversion, and the London team has already delivered work on three tent-pole Hollywood movies and a handful of commercials and broadcast projects.

Prime Focus Film will be moving into new, state-of-the-art headquarters in 2011. "The building is being designed as a flagship studio which reflects our new way of working," commented Hobbs. "With more projects to be announced soon, the unquestionable caliber of the team we've assembled, and this extraordinary new space, this is a very exciting time to be part of Prime Focus Film."

"I'm extremely excited about the launch of Prime Focus Film," said Michael Fink, president of Prime Focus VFX worldwide. "This new venture marks the next evolution of our global vfx and View-D offering. We've assembled a team of truly world-class visual effects artists, and I'm looking forward to working with them on upcoming projects."

Namit Malhotra, global CEO and founder, Prime Focus added: "With our LA, Vancouver and Mumbai studios already delivering world-class vfx on projects such as Avatar, The Twilight Saga, The A-Team and GI Joe, this is the next piece in the jigsaw in creating a truly global vfx offering. We have a clear vision for the future of this industry, and a drive and determination to deliver the best talent, service, technology and scale to filmmakers, wherever they are in the world."

About Prime Focus
Prime Focus is a global Visual Entertainment Services group that provides creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, internet and media industries.

The group offers a genuine end-to-end solution from pre-production to final delivery - including pre-visualization, equipment hire, visual effects, video and audio post-production, digital intermediate, digital asset management and distribution.

Prime Focus employs more than 2,250 people with state-of-the-art facilities throughout the key markets of North America, the UK and India. Using its 'worldsourcing' business model, Prime Focus provides a network that combines global cost advantages, resources and talent pool with strong relationships and a deep understanding of local markets.

Prime Focus is a public stock company with shares traded on the Mumbai and National Stock exchanges in India (PFOCUS). Prime Focus also owns and operates Prime Focus London Plc (PFO), which is publicly traded on the LSE's AIM market. For more information, please visit www.primefocusworld.com.


-ends-



Rebecca
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[tara7] 25/4/2011 17:49

Note the "buying and turning round companies"

POF London has been turned round and is making huge profits on a pe of 2.!!

[tara7] 25/4/2011 17:47

Look at the shareholders of POF INDIA.!!

November 10, 2010, 05:01 PM IST Share Prime Focus Raises $16M Through QIPBY TEAM VCC
The shares of the Mumbai-based visual entertainment services firm closed at Rs 77.15 today, up by 2.59%.






Mumbai-based visual entertainment services firm Prime Focus has raised $16 million via a qualified institutional placement (QIP). The issue, which was priced at Rs 68.58 per share, saw participation from leading Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

The pricing of the issue was fairly attractive as compared to the current trading price of Prime Focus. The shares of the company closed at Rs 77.15 today, up by 2.59%. The issue was managed by Centrum Capital and Intensive Fiscal.

Prime Focus has also followed an aggressive inorganic growth strategy by buying and turning around companies in US and UK. Some of its major deals include North America-based Post Logic Studios and Frantic Films VFX in November 2007 and UK-based VTR in 2006.

It currently operates in 4 countries through 15 facilities spread across 10 cities which include Vancouver and Winnipeg in Canada, Los Angeles and New York in USA, London in the UK, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Goa in India. The company reported nets sales
of Rs 453 crore and a net profit of Rs 39 crore in FY10.

Existing investors of Prime Focus include Alchemy India Long term Fund and billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

"The low cost model of Prime Focus will help the company establish its global footprint. Because of significant cost arbitrage we expect the company to get a couple of big ticket sized orders in the coming months," says Gaurav Bhandari, senior VP, Centrum Capital Ltd.
Comments

[tara7] 25/4/2011 16:26

So Prime Focus now has 3,500 workers on the books, on a pe of 2 is nuts.!!

[tara7] 25/4/2011 16:23

NEWSFLASH:

Ramki Sankaranarayanan appointed CEO Prime Focus India

Announcement / Corporate April 25, 2011, 18:17 IST



Prime Focus has announced that Ramki Sankaranarayanan, President and CEO of Prime Focus Technologies, has been appointed CEO of Prime Focus India. The appointment, which is effective immediately, will see Ramki become responsible for all of the operations and business lines of Prime Focus in India, in addition to maintaining his leadership of Prime Focus Technologies.

Talking of the appointment, Namit Malhotra, Founder and Global CEO, Prime Focus commented: "As Prime Focus grows, both in India and internationally, it becomes increasingly important to ensure we have strong local leadership. Ramki has proven himself time and again through his successes with Prime Focus Technologies, and I am sure that under his leadership, Prime Focus India will not only continue to flourish, but will be driven to even greater levels of achievement. This move further strengthens our international management team, and also allows me to more fully concentrate on Prime Focus' global ambitions."










Ramki has been with the Prime Focus group for over four years, and as a founder of Prime Focus Technologies, has led that company from inception to its current position as a market leader in providing blue-chip, global media companies with cloud-based multi-platform content operations solutions. Ramki joined Prime Focus with over 14 years of rich experience across technical, strategic and operational roles at companies such as Subex and Tata Elxsi.

Commenting on his new role, Ramki said: "Prime Focus is enjoying dynamic growth – in India and internationally – but we must not rest on our laurels. Prime Focus has always been known as an innovator, and a leader in its sector, and my role is to ensure that we continue in this vein with new service offerings, new technological developments, the best creative offering in the marketplace and even better levels of customer service. There are many opportunities for Prime Focus India – both domestically and internationally – and I look forward to leveraging these opportunities to take the company to even greater heights."

About Prime Focus
Prime Focus is a global Visual Entertainment Services group that provides creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, internet, and media industries. The group offers a genuine end-to-end solution from pre-production to final delivery - including stereo 3D visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, and video and audio post-production, digital intermediate, equipment hire, multi-platform content operations solutions and digital distribution.

Prime Focus employs almost 3,500 people with state-of-the-art facilities throughout the key markets of North America, the UK and India. Using its 'World sourcing' business model, Prime Focus provides a network that combines global cost advantages, resources and talent pool with strong relationships and a deep understanding of the local markets.

[tara7] 25/4/2011 10:34

Results for this £10M Market Cap company FOR JUST 6 MONTHS.!!

Prime Focus posts £2.67m H1 profit, AIM suspension lifted
By BFN News | 09:03 AM | Monday 11 April, 2011
Prime Focus London PLC ORD 5P (PFO)


Shares in Prime Focus London plc were restored to AIM trading after the company published its results for the six months to September 30. Prime Focus, which provides technology-based creative services for the media and entertainment industry, reported a first-half pre-tax profit of £2.67m, up from £7k, on turnover rising to £18.5m from £8.2m. Earnings per share rose to 8.19p from 0.09p in H1 2009. Net debt fell to £2.74m from £4.38m. The company said the year had started positively with new business wins. It launched its digital production arm during the period and was currently servicing clients such as Visa, Burberry and Volkswagen. It had seen additional success in the 3D conversion space, having established its capabilities through involvement in 'Clash of the Titans' alongside Prime Focus North America, part of the larger group within parent company Prime Focus India. The company participated in the 3D conversion business by contributing creative services for several movies and completed two commercials for Gucci and Puma from 2D to 3D stereoscopic. Chairman and MD Namit Malhotra said, 'In just over a year since our launch as a single global brand under the Prime Focus name in October 2009, we are already being talked about as one of the world's leading players in the industry.' At 9:03am: (LON:PFO) share price was +11p at 27.5p Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

[tara7] 25/4/2011 10:16

More growth.!!

David Candler joins Prime Focus' senior sales team

15 year industry veteran joins Prime Focus to strengthen the European Content Services division.


Prime Focus has strengthened its European Content Services Division with the appointment of David Candler as senior sales executive. Based in London, his new role will involve exploring opportunities for digital delivery and global content services contracts utilising CLEAR, Prime Focus Technologies' award-winning hybrid cloud multi-platform content operations solution.

Simon Briggs, managing director, UK said:

"The digital strategy for our global business is gathering significant momentum at the moment, and David's appointment in London is timely as we reinforce our Content Services team in each of our worldwide territories. David's background and experience in the Broadcast media sector means he has a great understanding of how CLEAR can provide multiple solutions to customer's needs in this market."

With over 15 years of industry experience, David has held a number of key senior commercial and operational positions within some of the industry's most prestigious organisations including Technicolor, Ascent Media, RTL Group, Pearson Television, BBC, Todd-AO and Orbit Showtime Network. He's successfully managed and developed a number of multi-million pound commercial and operational accounts on behalf of some of the largest broadcasters in the world.

"Prime Focus was an obvious choice for me as I wanted to be involved with a company that really understands the next generation of global digital delivery and content services," said David. "The group is able to deliver flexible, efficient and tangible products and services that meet the current and future requirements of the broadcast media industry."

He added: "Globally, Prime Focus has the right mix of creative and technical resources to keep ahead of the competition. Their products and services enable the fulfilment of effective and efficient media management and distribution models which help customers streamline their operations and monetise their content across the world."

-ends-


More on Prime Focus


Published on 24/03/2011

[tara7] 25/4/2011 08:30

More orders.!

Latest Press Releases
April 15, 2011 Print | Email | Bookmark

Eros Digitizes Its Library

Mumbai: Eros International Media Ltd (Eros International), India's largest integrated film studio, is spearheading the Indian digital revolution by digitizing and cataloguing its entire library of movies, comprising in excess of 1,000 titles across languages, and setting up an in-house 'Digital Asset Management' platform. Eros International has deployed global digital content services group Prime Focus Technologies (PFT)'s CLEAR content operations management platform to administer its extensive content library.

This initiative will help Eros International monetize its intellectual property by enabling the production, repurposing and delivery of its content globally, across web, mobile and other new media platforms. It will also allow the Company to archive, preserve and rights manage its library.

The platform offers Eros International wide-ranging functionality for managing and monetizing its content including Asset management for managing and digitally archiving content; Workflow management for multi-platform production, distribution and fulfillment, to exploit existing library content and global content delivery across multiple platforms.

Speaking on the announcement, Rajesh Bahl, Chief Digital Officer, Eros International Media Limited said, "As a market leader in Indian film content worldwide, our Digital Asset Management platform will help us to continuously monetize our assets and enable cost effective optimization of media asset management, thus facilitating faster introduction of new products and services in the market. It would further help us meet the increasing demand for our content across all digital platforms. Prime Focus Technologies has an in-depth knowledge of both the media industry and IT, which helped them better understand our requirements. CLEAR is a complete system and it could quickly be custom-made to support our vision to exploit multi-platform opportunities for our content".

Ramki Sankaranarayanan, President and CEO, Prime Focus Technologies said, "We are delighted that such a well known and respected media and entertainment company has chosen CLEAR to manage its content operations. Eros International is a visionary company which is considering innovative ways to bring content to consumers. Engaging consumers through personalised media and delivering new content is a challenge. However, CLEAR provides an agility through which Eros International will be well positioned to exploit its enviable content library across all platforms. We are very excited to be associated with Eros International and are eager to be a part of this journey."

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[tara7] 24/4/2011 15:27

From Twitter half an hour ago, these guys,[PFO} seem to be working on loads of BBC productions.!!

_ Prime Focus
Wedding season begins! Don't miss the concluding episode of the PF-posted 'Britain's Royal Weddings', tonight on BBC One at 9pm.
25 minutes ago

[tara7] 24/4/2011 15:09

Prime Focus 3D Exclusive

Apr 01, 2011 No Comments by admin

As 3DFocus.co.uk announced last week, the 2D – 3D conversion of Star Wars was completed by Prime Focus, a VFX company who were responsible for some conversion work on Avatar, the Clash of the Titans conversion and Chronicles of Narnia as well as conversion work on Judge Dredd 3D.
Head of Production Matthew Bristowe speaks exclusively to 3D news website 3D Focus about his surprise at still having to defend the work on Clash of the Titans, their plans for television back catalogue conversion and the painstaking processes behind 2D to 3D conversion.




3DF: How did Prime Focus get involved with 2D – 3D conversion?

The first 3D project we took on was the visual effects on the film Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. On the back of that along came Avatar. The Prime Focus R&D department working on Avatar put a lot of research into solving the problem of how we could deal with left and right discrepancies which essentially evolved into how could we create one eye from another eye and this evolved into conversion.

3DF: Prime Focus took a lot of criticism over the conversion of Clash of the Titans. Do you regret taking on the job of Clash of the Titans when you had so little time to complete the conversion and there were reviews like "the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3D."?

Here is the deal with Clash of the Titans. I am still surprised that, here we are, a year down the line and it is something we are still either having to defend or discuss. It does take up a large part of what we do.

From a technical point of view with have moved on massively. From a quality point of view, we have also taken huge leaps and bounds. We are very comfortable with the work we did on Clash of the Titans. We developed a solution where we could create a left and right eye from mono plates. We presented that to Warner Brothers and then the work began on Clash of the Titans. Warner Brothers saw it as a great opportunity to convert a film they were currently working on and it was an incredible opportunity for us to really build the pipeline and learn a huge amount as well.

So much has changed from what we have learnt on that going forward to other shows but Clash of the Titans set us on the road and it placed us two years ahead of our competitors. It has been fantastic for us.



3DF: Did you feel the criticism of the Clash of the Titans was unfair when people did not understand the time pressure involved?

It shows what an ambitious and forward thinking company Prime Focus is. We took that on knowing what we were getting involved in but also not knowing to a certain degree. It is mind blowing how much data and sheer hard work that went into that.

There are no regrets – it was great for us. We did what we did in the time that was available to us. We delivered the film on time which, for a lot of clients, is just as important as providing great quality. There is no point in having wonderful images and beautiful quality if you're not going to deliver and other vendors have suffered because of that – you have to deliver a show, that's what it is all about.

The film satisfied the Director and the studio. We have a great relationship with Warner Brothers and they also recognised what we achieved in the time and that further down the line this is only going to improve.

3DF: Clash of the Titans was not filmed with conversion in mind. Do you think your future projects will incorporate the conversion planning in the pre-production process and how does this affect the quality of the outcome?

It affects the quality hugely. Conversion planning upfront is something we promote and are actively involved in. We have production staff and creative staff on set of current films who supervise the filming with 2D to 3D conversion in mind as a visual effects supervisor representing a facility would do on a big film. We are able to provide technical and creative support for a show upfront in pre-production, through production and then into post production to achieve a much better quality of 3D.

3DF: How far into the pre-production or production was it decided that Chronicles of Narnia was to be converted to 3D?

Principle photography had finished but visual effects had yet to be done. We got involved with guys like Walden Media, Sean Santiago, stereographer Ed Marsh and the rest of the 3D team at a very early stage so when we did turn over the production, a lot of the decisions had already been made. A depth map had already been laid out and created but fortunately Prime Focus offers a very interactive, iterative, intuitive process so even though certain depth decisions were made upfront we have a very flexible system to be able to change depth decisions, re-review and return shots which could be within a day; it is that quick.

It worked really well. It recently won an award at the International 3D Society for best live action 3D film. We are constantly pushing the work. Our team of artists who we put together in London post clash and prior to Narnia, have developed a new industry technique. We've trained them and, after working on a number of very big projects, they have grown over time.

We talked about the quality of Clash of the Titans before but compare that to the quality now and our artists are so much more experienced and so much more skilled, particularly in 3D.

3DF: Many people can't get their head around the fact (including me!) that you need to recreate image data that would have normally been produced by a second camera which does not exist. How, in principle can you do that? I have heard of something called in-painting – is this the technique Prime Focus uses?

A lot of it is a secret of course. At Prime Focus we use a large array of techniques and they are mainly developed in house. As other vendors have found early on, no single technique can meet all the challenges so we have crafted many proprietary techniques. We can't talk openly about them; You will have to come and work for me and train as an artist!



3DF: I have read that when converting people to 3D, not only does their outline have to be rotoscoped but individual elements of their body have to be rotoscoped to prevent them looking like cardboard cut outs. This must be mind blowingly detailed and time intensive. Is this a frame by frame manual process?

It is a frame by frame manual process. These rotoscope artists are highly skilled. Super tight quality roto is the key to the success of this. In a single frame we pretty much roto everything. You could have hundreds of different roto elements within each individual frame and that allows us to sculpt the shot to get genuine volume and depth within it. For a single character we don't just cut out the outline of the face; we rotoscope the eyes, ears, nose, lips etc. so we can generate a really high quality volume of depth which is not necessarily achievable when shooting native stereo. By having greater control of all the elements within a shot we have greater control of the 3D quality.

3DF: Would you even have to rotoscope individual strands of hair?

Yes – in order to separate the foreground character with hair from the background you would have to do that. I have to say it is not all in the rotoscope; we've got other skills and techniques for doing that . The View-D artists are highly trained, highly talented individuals and extracting a single strand of hair from a background is a very skilled job.

3DF: What does volumising mean in the 3D conversion world?

To sculpt depth into objects and characters as opposed to planes and geometry. Planes and geometry implies you have got a ground plane, wall or distinct areas to give you depth where as volumising is about giving shape to a face or arm for example.

NEXT PAGE – Dispartiy maps, back converting television programmes, conversion work on Avatar and View-D

3DF: What are disparity maps?

A visual representation of the difference between what each eye views.

3DF: During the Ravensbourne event you showed some clips of wildlife programming converted to 3D – at what point do you think the cost will reach an affordable level where quality conversion of television back catalogue material can be achieved?

Within the past 8 or 9 months we have talked to all the major channels including ITV, BBC, Sky and specific channels SyFy and Discovery about 3D and what to expect, how to plan for it and how we can support a show. At the moment, a lot of TV channels, apart from live action sports and some films, are struggling to put 3D content out there and open up those back catalogues.

Prime Focus does plan on bringing out an affordable proprietary solution within the next 12 months to allow us to offer near cinema quality resolution 3D at a price that is affordable to broadcasters. That's one of our plans for the next 12 months.

3DF: Are you currently talking to any television back catalogue owners you can share?

There are three films going through the facility in the last few months which are arguably the biggest films on the planet and we are involved heavily in broadcast but we are just not allowed to talk about it.

3DF: I understand that you contributed stereo 3D visual effects to 'Avatar'. Can you expand on that please?

We were a visual effects vendor on Avatar. The main sequence we were involved in was the holographic halo table area in the film. Within that there were a lot of 3D graphics visuals within the monitors and video screens. We were required to put depth into those so effectively we were a visual effects vendor like many others providing CG for the shots. That is where we started developing this tool for conversion which led into Clash.



3DF: What is View-D? I understand it is deployed after the rotoscoping is complete; is this correct?

View D is what we call our proprietary piece of 2D 3D conversion software but it can also be used as a generic term for the whole 3D conversion process. It is so much more than just creating volume in the characters; it is about time management, production management, asset management, artists delivering shots etc. Tasking is where we choose the elements to rotoscope, next it is the rotoscoping itself. Once those rotoscoped elements are delivered to one of our facilities they get ingested which is where the View D process starts.

3DF: What is the most time consuming part of the 2D to 3D conversion process?

Traditionally rotoscoping is the most time consuming so to respond to that we have got a number of facilities throughout India. We have many hundreds of artists rotoscoping thousands upon thousands of frames but we are still able to turn around shots very quickly.

3DF: I keep hearing about Fusion – what is this?

Fusion is what we built View-D into so Fusion, much like Nuke, is a visual effects tool.

3DF: Give me a sense of scale required for conversion – how many artists do you require? What are their roles? How do you split and manage work amongst people?

All the rotoscoping is done in India. We are constantly recruiting and training so it is an evolving workforce which now consists of over 1000 roto artists in India. We do share the global resource so take something like Narnia for example. On that we had 75 artists in London completing over 600 shots. We had about the same number of people in LA completing 450 shots in less time. Clash was completed in 8 weeks which was start (rotoscoping) to finish (delivery). Now we have slightly longer but once conversion is finished we probably still have about 8 weeks to complete the conversion so we still require a huge resource to meet the deadlines.

It is just one big visual effects show but instead of 800 shots we've got 2000 shots so we break it down by scene and spread that globally.

Prime Focus has databases and storage networks so we can move data and shots around very quickly. For example, our artists working on shots in India don't need to send the whole rendered 2K sequence to us; they can just send us the Fusion file which is very small and we can then render the shot here in London.

With us being in the middle and LA and India being on the other end of each time zone we can work 24 hours a day as we did on Narnia. Towards the end of Narnia we were doing regular daily sessions with the client throughout the day. On one particularly complicated sequence on Narnia we started one session, presented a shot from India, the client gave notes on that shot, the notes were fed into the database immediately to one of our co-ordinators, that information went back to India, the artists worked and made the change iteration, re-supplied the shot back to us and by the end of that daily session, which was only about an hour or two we presented the shot again. The client would say, "we've already seen this one" and we would say "No you haven't ,we've made the change" and they were blown away by that and to be honest I was blown away by that. That is how quickly and efficiently the machine can work and that is why we maintain our status as the market leader in this.



3DF: During the Ravensbourne 3D Storytelling event you showed a complicated clip from your conversion work on Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Can you expand on that and explain some of the challenges. How many shots, artists, locations etc.

Yes, that was from Narnia. In fact, I was referring to that sequence in my last answer! It is a massive 360 degree tracking shot. The camera comes up high, swoops up over the boat, through the boat, through the rigging, turns round 180 degrees, up the mast, follows the mouse up to the top and rests there. This was a 1500 hundred frame shot. You've got constant movement, lots of rigging, fine hair detail, characters, visual effects shots in there, lots of depth as well so in some respects a 3D visual effects conversion shot does not get much tougher than that. To make that work the shot had to be broken down and spread over teams so we had multiple artists all working together as a team but working on different points within the shot. You slowly build it and build it.

3DF: What is the hardest type of shot to convert?

Stereo conversion gets more challenging the more depth there is in a shot.

3DF: Barry Sandrew from Legend 3D told me that conversion can be visually better than filming in stereo. Can you add any comments to that?

I completely agree. We are often fighting but 3D is all an illusion anyway. From our point of view, we work on hybrid shows. Right now Judge Dredd is going through the facility. Judge Dredd is predominantly shot in stereo with stereo visual effects but there are elements of 2D 3D conversion in Judge Dredd.

Within the world of 3D there are three levels of control. Your ultimate is something like Avatar; it's all 3D created within a digital CGI world. The next level of control is 2D to 3D conversion in the hands of a company like Prime Focus whereby we maintain control throughout the process and can genuinely create controlled attractive 3D. Finally you have shooting in stereo which can be the least controlled environment. You are locked into what you are doing on the set and there are so many other parameters that come into play like lighting, contrast, camera set up, movement etc.

3DF: Stereo conversion is all quite new – how easy is it to employ people to work on your conversions or do you need to employ people from other VFX roles and train them?

I've recruited everybody that has come through the London door. We've recruited guys who have got quite a lot of visual effects experience in a previous facility but we also able to take on people straight from a compositing training course or technical experience in graphic design. The key thing is having that desire to make a career within the conversion industry because we need to train people in the technique we developed in house.

Quite often your first job in a VFX house would be working on a prep scene, working in roto and learning your skills there. Then you start with some low level compositing and work your way up. However, with so much of the roto and prep work being outsourced to other countries it is harder to find those entry level positions in London. Just by the nature of stereo conversion, is does not require those years of compositing skills. We can take on people, train them up and give them that entry level in a visual effects house. Aside from being a conversion house in London, Prime Focus film is also a visual effects house so we can offer genuine career advancement.

3DF: Are you concerned at the new 2D – 3D conversion companies popping up around the world promising to do conversion cheaply?

You can look at it in terms of quality but you can look at it in terms of cost. Not every director and cinematographer is going to be comfortable with a 3D rig on their show. Some directors can be accustomed to shooting in very specific ways with all the complications. It is not just about creating 3D to make money at the box office, it is about making good quality films in 3D so we just become part of the post process. In the same way that you want your film to have the best visual effects, the best colour grade, the best sound etc, you're going to want it to have the best in 3D. I feel we are going to see the market change over the next couple of years and more boutique facilities will open up. However, no studio is going to put all their 1500 visual effects shots in one house; you have the main vendor and then you have a number of supporting vendors supporting the process so that is probably the way its going to go with 2D – 3D conversion.

Costs will be driven down but I've been to a lot of the same type of seminars you have and I am staggered by the amount of bad 3D that gets presented. It is heartening when I look at the work we do and the high quality that we offer. There is a premium to be paid for a) – offering high quality and b) being able to offer the volume on schedule and on time to get it in the cinema and TV.

[tara7] 24/4/2011 15:02

From five years ago.

This is PFO India buying into PFO uk [called VTR at the time.]

Post-production House Prime Focus Acquires London's VTR For -£4.5 million
Comments (0) Text Size: A A Print (PDF) Email Share Business Standard: Prime Focus, a leading Indian post-production house, has acquired London-based media company VTR Plc for -£4.5 million (Rs 36 crore).
Prime Focus would buy out 55 per cent stake in VTR, at around 35 pence per share. VTR will seek shareholder approval on April 24. The acquisition will give Prime Focus an entry into the mature post-production markets. Prime Focus is promoted by Namit Malhotra and Naresh Malhotra who have 68 per cent stake, while the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group holds 19.5 per cent, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala 8.5 per cent and Adlabs' Manmohan Shetty holds 3 per cent.
The London-based company provides post production services to the media industry. Prime is going in for an IPO shortly.
Sahad PV
Apr 19, 2006 9:05 AM ET

Posted In: Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions

So, from the above you can see the directors of Prime Focus India hold a big lump of that companies shares and in turn own around 60% of the UK company.

Note also they bought in at 35p and have turned the UK company from a loss to huge profits.

[tara7] 24/4/2011 10:12

PFO India [listed there] has a market cap of £100M.!!! V PFO London at under £10M.

That in my view is not going to be the case for long.

[tara7] 24/4/2011 10:08

80% of the shares have not changed hands for around 5 years, leaving just 20% in the market.

In my view most of those[20%], will never be traded, just put away and left.

Take a look at what T/O will be for the full year,around £36M - £40M.

[tara7] 22/4/2011 16:47

The £9M is not in revenue.

This stock is priced 100% wrong, just wait and see.

[dasv] 22/4/2011 12:06

twistednik - 20 Apr'11 - 14:04 - 96 of 108

If the 9m rights sale is not in revenue then they are doing much better and I stand corrected. I thought it was the main contributor to profitability and therefore that the profit was suspect but if you are right then this company is safer than I gave it credit.

BTW I could buy on line in real time but I couldn't sell with an online quote - I had to just plump for sell at best. I got out at 38p.

[tara7] 22/4/2011 10:17

PFO are in the right place at the right time.

[tara7] 22/4/2011 10:15

GROWTH

Added dimension: Digital deployment fuels U.S. cinema ad growth
April 20, 2011

-By Andreas Fuchs




Cliff Marks
"The overall industry grew by 12.7% in 2010 to $658.23 million. That's good news," affirms Cliff Marks, president and chairman of the Cinema Advertising Council (www.cinemadcouncil.org), about the rise in cinema pre-show advertising and entertainment. "In the national, regional and local arenas, this represents the strongest growth we've seen since 2007."

Marks further notes that "the national business, which still represents 80% of the total, grew by 13.9% alone. At 8.2% year-over-year, the local segment saw a nice rebound coming off a 9.6% decrease during the previous year."

With lobby promotions and other off-screen activities (on-screen revenue accounts for 91.5% of total cinema ad sales) growing an impressive 38.4%, "we had some great brands that chose to do innovative things that went beyond just the big screen."

Despite a year of "continued softness among other traditional media," as CAC described the general climate throughout 2010, Marks has even more growth stories to share. "Last year saw a significant increase in the number of major marketers and their agency buyers and planners who have come to understand firsthand the value of the cinema audience," he noted when announcing the data. "More and more, brands are planning cinema as an integral part of their media mix in order to reach younger demographics and light TV viewers." And CAC is always ready to advise those brands on how to make the most of the 35,798 U.S. screens it encompasses.

The heavy lifting our industry has been performing by moving film projectors out and digital cinema in has also had a major impact on the cinema-advertising business. "As you all know, the big-d rollout is happening as we speak," Marks confirms. "In 2010 and going into 2011, the industry has seen and is still seeing a massive deployment of digital screens." At the same time the number of 3D films being released into theatres is growing, "the industry is experiencing a big boom in 3D capacity for advertising" too.

At National CineMedia, the screen-advertising company that he heads as president of sales and marketing in his day job, Marks noted "our numbers for 3D capacity virtually doubled over the last year." Between the major cinema players, "we have seen somewhere around a dozen 3D ad deals in 2010." Taking that industry-wide development to the next level, "we are expecting to grow our 3D advertising revenue in a rate commensurate to the growth of cinema screens in theatres. Time will tell if brands continue to embrace the format and begin making 3D ads in large numbers. Or whether they will wait until 3D television has broader mass distribution so that they can scale the format over both channels."

Sample 2010 campaigns that required putting on glasses earlier in the show came from Samsung. Their new television sets registered "off-the-charts strong recall numbers," Marks says about NCM's first 3D ad in cinemas. Sprint's entry was "deemed very successful" as well. Several automotive clients including Lexus and Scion launched stereoscopic 3D campaigns along with the U.S. Air Force, M&M Mars, Proctor & Gamble and Friskies.

"3D has two advantages going on that will promote its expansion," Marks opines. "Many people have been concerned about its scalability so far, but the axis of 3D distribution is going up very, very quickly now. As the exhibitors continue their in-theatre deployments, 3D has become much more nationally scalable already. In fact, we're there now," Marks ventures to say. "Another driving factor is that the production cost to convert a 2D commercial to 3D has dropped significantly to $50,000 or less. It was a lot more when we first started."

Last, but certainly not least, "3D advertising is garnering a significant premium ranging from 50 to 100%, which is not only rationalized by the effectiveness of the ad," he explains, but also by the higher costs involved. "One needs to understand that the cinema ad sales companies are helping to offset projector costs to exhibitors as well as partly compensating the studios for the use of the glasses." However, "this is not an industry-wide agreement but one that varies by vendor," he cautions. Likewise, access to the DLP Cinema or Sony SXRD projectors-as opposed to using the lower-grade pre-show networks in place now-equally depends on individual companies and theatre deployment status.

At NCM, "we have approximately 3,000 big-d projectors that our 'FirstLook' show is playing on," Marks explains. "You are starting to see the early migration and over the next 12 months or so, we'll see a mass migration with small-d projectors fading away. Obviously, that is great for both consumers and advertisers alike, not to mention our content partners who will enjoy a huge upgrade," he foresees. "In some places, the pre-show is even playing at 4K resolution."

Film Journal International was first to report when Screenvision and Muvico premiered that very, very high-definition set-up in Thousand Oaks, Calif., back in March 2009. To integrate its pre-show content, Screenvision (profiled in our March 2011 issue) adds a special scaler device, the company tells us, that takes the input files and ups their resolution to play at the higher quality required. Screenvision also has about 3,000 screens where the pre-show is integrated using d-cinema projectors.

At NCM as well, "we do make sure that every spot we put on is in the correct file format for the projector that they will be playing on," Marks assures. "Nobody in this industry is going to put a spot on a 4K projector that is not going to look like it is supposed to. I have seen the demos in our theatres and it is unbelievable. The side-by-side comparison of 4K to our current small-d projectors, not that they do not look great already, or even to 35mm film, is just incredible. It's a pretty awesome exhibition of video."

Now that exhibitors are providing access to their expensive d-cinema projectors, can they expect to be compensated accordingly? "It would be fair to say," Marks replies, "that all cinema vendors that have access to the big-d equipment have had their existing deals contemplated moving forward with this in mind. Clearly, there are financial arrangements for access, etc. in place that each cinema sales company has individually negotiated in order to be able to play their spots. Obviously, there's a ratio of what makes sense economically," but participation and cost sharing have been negotiated, Marks confirms.

No wonder "our outlook is positive." When it comes to cinema ads, he says, the Council does not "see anything that would indicate that brands aren't liking the medium, or that they are moving away from it. Like every industry, we are always observant of certain categories that may or may not continue to spend. But, as a macro statement, it would be fair to say that more brands and categories are finding the cinema and with help from major media vendors are utilizing the medium better than ever."

The same can be said about the cinema-advertising vendors themselves and their exhibitor partners, Marks believes. Pointing to NCM's special events and content division, he invites everyone to "look for Fathom to continue to aggressively grow [as] another business that is an important and vital part in NCM's mission of creating alternative revenue sources for theatre operators."

According to Marks, "cinema media companies are becoming much more than just on-screen media companies." At NCM, for instance, "we've ventured online with an Internet ad network of entertainment sites and gone mobile with a proprietary device called 'Movie Night Out.'" Launching in time for this past Thanksgiving in partnership with CitySearch and Fandango, the free app allows fans to select movies and plan related activities such as dinner. Search options include ZIP codes and are built around themes ranging from date night to kids' birthday parties, replete with ticket purchasing and restaurant reservations. To Marks, this activity is exemplary of trying to reach the consumer not just on-screen but multiple times before, during and after the movie. "We now have over 400,000 active users of 'Movie Night Out' and, a couple of weeks ago, iTunes rated us 'app of the week' with four out of five possible stars. That week alone, we counted around 100,000 downloads."

While this certainly represents a great promotion for moviegoing itself, it also enhances an important source of revenue for the in-cinema business. With the Cinema Advertising Council continuing to promote the medium and theatres enhancing the message on display, marketers and moviegoers too will reap the benefits.

[tara7] 22/4/2011 09:53

Under outlook from the full year accounts.

"The board continues to seek out and identify opportunites and proposals with the intention to SIGINFICANTLY enhance shareholder value."

Trading on a pe of under two today, I am looking for that pe to be 10-14 over the next 18 months,if not higher.

[ashtree2] 21/4/2011 11:21

Yes both times and I could sell the shares on line also if I wished which is a good sign.

[kiwi058] 21/4/2011 10:49

Ashtree2 - did you manage to buy them online?

[ashtree2] 21/4/2011 10:36

My 2 trades of £2k each are not showing up on advfn.To get a good feel of what the company is about log on to their websites.You can watch some of the work they are doing which is very impressive and top notch.

[tara7] 21/4/2011 10:15

Fishman,go to the company web page and spend the morning reading all you can.

This is a company growing the rate of knots, on a pe of under two.

Why are you worried about non delivery when these guys are working 24 hours a day with a very low Indian cost base for all the dog work.?