Zoo Digital Share Discussion Threads

[napoleon 14th] 21/10/2013 09:04

& 10K @ 12.07p bought

[napoleon 14th] 21/10/2013 08:16

Bought 20K at 11.95p after a quote of 11.7p for 10K.
Asked for another 10K & was quoted 12.1p.
Short of stock?

[opaldouglas] 20/10/2013 21:20

Nice to get these loan notes done and dusted in the next few days also.

[buyn0w] 20/10/2013 19:21

Interims due in few weeks so we have to wait and see how the share price reacts.

[opaldouglas] 19/10/2013 17:30

BUYNOW - Done.

RE - share price target. If $2m saving in overheads trickles through after restructuring and business continue to pick up as recently announced i certainly think 20p by christmas is on the cards. I think 30p by spring next year is more realistic but i'm happy for the market to prove me wrong! ;)

New products and new markets are v exciting.

[buyn0w] 18/10/2013 15:05

SP between 20-30p by end of year OD. GL.

[opaldouglas] 18/10/2013 13:37

Nice links BUYNOW, thanks.

Certainly news next week, by wednesday at the latest.

[buyn0w] 18/10/2013 11:10

Most likely news next week..

[buyn0w] 18/10/2013 09:52

All buys so far.

[buyn0w] 18/10/2013 09:38

News soon.

[buyn0w] 17/10/2013 22:30

www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/61894/qa-zoo-digital-enjoying-a-break-out-61894.html

[buyn0w] 17/10/2013 22:30

Q&A: ZOO Digital enjoying a break-out
By John Harrington October 07 2013, 2:20pm
ZOO Digital (LON:ZOO), the creative media software services group, recently reported an improvement in trading following a restructuring after a slump in the DVD market last year.
Proactive Investors (PI) spoke to Stuart Green, the chief executive of ZOO.

PI: First of all, shares in the company are now at the highest point since March this year so clearly this update, which has coincided with the annual general meeting (AGM), works for investors, but what's your take on the numbers?
Green: Well, this was our AGM for the period ending March 2013. Just going back a little bit to last year, our first half was a good one and we were on a good trajectory. Unfortunately we had a disappointment in our second half which resulted in overall numbers for the year being more or less flat on the prior year, which was disappointing for us.
The disappointment actually was due to a large client that implemented some restructuring within their own organisation.
The consequence of that was that there was a significant amount of work that was in our production pipeline, which was deferred until that client's subsequent trading year. What that meant was that in our then current year we were left short from a revenue standpoint.
Consequently, in January of this year we had to unfortunately put out a profits warning, but the great news is that whilst there was certain restructuring that we had to implement at that time, the momentum for the business has actually built very nicely since then. We're on a good growth trajectory now. Our expectations for the business are actually looking very promising.
PI: How far through that restructuring are you? Is it now completed?
Green: Oh yes, absolutely. We reacted very quickly. Whilst it came as a surprise because it was a major change in the client, we were able to very quickly assess the changes that we could make within the organisation and implemented them very quickly. It was February when the realisation came to us and by March we had completed all the changes.
We didn't actually take many of the benefits of that restructuring in the prior year, the year to March '13, but on an annualised basis we were able to implement roundly US$2,000,000 of annual savings from our fixed cost base. One of the changes we made there was to actually adjust the cost base so that a greater proportion of it was incurred on a variable basis.
PI: How is trading at the moment? Has this upward trend that you've seen recently in this last period continued?
Green: Yes, absolutely it has. Actually there are two major initiatives that we've been pursuing for over a year now that are going really nicely.
The first one, which is a product proposition, a cloud based system called ZOOcore, which really takes to the next level the work that we've been doing now for seven or so years with major media companies to help them with their workflow; that's to say organisations that are involved in some kind of creative enterprise to produce, whether it's a feature film or a TV series or a book, or whatever it may be - a marketing campaign maybe.
We're putting in systems that help them with their creative processes, such that those processes can operate much more efficiently, resulting in shorter time to market and significant savings.
This platform that we've developed, ZOOcore, enables us to deploy the systems for our clients very quickly and very cost effectively. We've seen great traction in that product since we launched it. We now have it being used in a number of major film studios, but importantly, also outside of our traditional film industry, which is very important for us because diversification is a real strategic focus for the business. We've been signing up clients in a number of different areas, in marketing agencies and in book publishers and elsewhere.
The second major initiative we've been pursuing relates to a subtitling proposition and we have...
PI: This is ZOOsubs isn't it?
Green: That's correct. We've developed a system called ZOOsubs, which allows the process of creating subtitles for both film and TV entertainment to be produced much more efficiently than is currently possible with traditional approaches to this work. Again, we've been getting great traction with that and are already providing services and software solutions to some significant clients which are making a big difference to their operations.
PI: Yes, I think you've signed up a third major film studio here, haven't you?
Green: That's right. In fact, it's pretty incredible when you think of it that this product and service offering really is something we've only introduced in the last year, yet we are already now in a position where it's been adopted by three of the six major film studios. Clearly that's a major for us.
PI: How's the extension of the convertible loan note? I think it's what, one and three quarter million pounds or so; how's that going, the extension period?
Green: That's going well. We are in discussions with the loan note holders now and are coming to the end of our negotiations. We'd expect that to be concluded in advance of the term of that loan which is at the end of October.
It's important to note that the loan note holders, the major loan note holders are also major shareholders. Clearly it's in everyone's best interests to come to a sensible conclusion to those discussions.
PI: What's the takeaway message then for investors, the outlook? In a few words, how would you summarise the position?
Green: Well, traditionally the market in which we have focused has been entertainment, particularly home entertainment. That has gone through some difficult times over the last few years, through the consequence of all the major changes that have been happening with access to content over the internet, piracy and a whole range of different factors.
When you look at that as a backdrop, there's been a good degree of turmoil there. Indeed, some of the bumps in the road that we've encountered, not least of which was the one I mentioned in January, have been in some way a consequence of those broader industry changes.
However, our focus has been in broadening our propositions such that they appeal to a greater range of different organisations within the creative industries. We've been making some great inroads in being able to take our propositions more widely.
PI: Well, as I say shares now at highs not seen since March this year so Green, congratulations on the update and good luck for the future.


[...]

[buyn0w] 15/10/2013 21:47

Next move up..

[euclid5] 08/10/2013 19:35

are the loan notes convert into shares?

[buyn0w] 08/10/2013 09:35

Thanks hastings.

OD yes news on loan note and then interims in november.

[hastings] 08/10/2013 08:59

Quick comment for anyone interested.
hxxp://www.privatepunter.co.uk/Behind-the-Scene/a-quick-look-at-zoo

[opaldouglas] 07/10/2013 21:11

BUYNOW - loan notes should be sorted soon.

I took some profits off the table here/throughout my portfolio last week, ZOO's a great recovery play but want to see the yanks sort out debt ceiling etc first and fear sentiment is starting to hit AIM.

[buyn0w] 07/10/2013 19:55

Next RNS can't be far now.

[buyn0w] 02/10/2013 14:49

Quite s few sells today.

[opaldouglas] 30/9/2013 22:14

Sure most have already watched ZOO's workflow video via ZOO's homepage (bottom left hand corner). worth a watch as some of ZOO's products can be rather complicated to understand!

[opaldouglas] 30/9/2013 22:02

A must read for anyone interested in ZOO. Certainly bodes well for further grants this year, a real success storey.



Published : Mon, 30 Sep 2013

The potential nightmare of the complex data attached to the making of every TV programme and cinema film has been turned into a sweet dream for a young British software company.

Not only has ZOO Digital of Sheffield achieved its targets for a brand new data management system – it has accidentally invented a workflow model that nobody had thought of before.

Both ZOO and the Technology Strategy Board had realised that metadata is the key to allow the different components of a media asset to be tracked and managed. By working on this ZOO also realised that by designing it into the workflow, the workflow itself is improved.

'It's brilliant – a real eureka moment – and it was all made possible by Technology Strategy Board funding and support – it is because they believed in us,' said Stuart Green, Chief Executive Officer of ZOO Digital.

'We had the idea, but needed extra technical skills and a better understanding of the marketplace in order to develop a successful product. Our involvement with the Technology Strategy Board didn't just involve cash - it caused us to pull together partnerships to make this happen – and now they have a success on their hands,' he added.

It's brilliant – a real eureka moment – and it was all made possible by Technology Strategy Board funding and support – it is because they believed in us - Stuart Green, Chief Executive Officer of ZOO Digital
Smooth journey for media files
Over the years, ZOO Digital has developed a suite of programs that help make the creative and production processes more efficient.

'We support collaboration and automate production, enabling organisations to co-ordinate and manage their resources, their media files, round the world. We've become very accomplished at understanding the dynamics and politics of this process,' says Stuart.

'When movies and TV series are being prepared for a worldwide market their data files can be massive with multiple variants. You might have 50 or 60 different language editions, each with different versions - then there could be a range of formats such as DVD, Blu-ray - and iTunes packages to buy online. Video files would be
separate from audio, which in turn could be stereo or surround sound.

We had the idea, but needed extra technical skills and a better understanding of the marketplace in order to develop a successful product. Our involvement with the Technology Strategy Board didn't just involve cash - it caused us to pull together partnerships to make this happen – and now they have a success on their hands - Stuart Green
'All sorts of individuals and organisations may be involved in the production process, including product managers, marketeers, translators, graphic designers and subtitle writers.

'And all the marketing and product packaging has to be localised for versions round the world in an ever decreasing time frame - ensuring everyone has the latest edition and version with so many permutations is a potential nightmare,' explained Stuart.

ZOO Digital focuses on smoothing this process, and ensuring that, for example, a Blu-ray disk bound for Brazil has the Brazilian Portuguese rather than European Portuguese, or that a film for Europe has British English subtitles rather than American English ones.

'It's not just films. For other creative material, too, particularly when people need to give their feedback and opinions, or review material and mark it up, you need a strict process to ensure people's voices are heard and can inform decision-making.

'There are many parties in the value chain, including studios, post production facilities, authoring houses and electronic retailers,' explained Stuart.

'And the one thing they all have in common – and the reason for the existence of ZOO Digital – is metadata – data about data. Metadata could be information about a movie, title, characters, actors, director, date released, film classification, synopsis of story, version number, and which audio file it goes with.

We knew that even if we could plug the skills gap we couldn't definitely say there was an opportunity; just because we could see the problem and solution that didn't necessarily mean we had a viable product commercially - Stuart Green
Keeping track of targets with ZOO
'The metadata tells you all you need to know about the file. We realised that we could use it to let companies track all their media files and immediately alert users if they did not have the latest version. It could also check that the media files were compatible. In other words, ensure that the soundtrack was the right one for the video, or that the format was correct for that reviewer.

'And now, thanks to the Technology Strategy Board, ZOO Digital is turning these ideas into reality,' he said.

However, ZOO Digital recognised that it didn't have all the necessary skills to develop this product for market.

Then in 2010, Stuart spotted a call from the Technology Strategy Board for projects for 'metadata, and increasing the value of digital content'.

'We realised this could be the ideal way to gain funding, find the partners needed to complete the research, and minimise the risk to ZOO Digital.' Stuart had applied for grants before and knew the first challenge was finding the right combination of participants.

'First we needed a prototype that we could demonstrate to potential customers, which required expertise we don't have in the company. We knew we would need to find a specialist,' said Stuart.

As a small busy business, we have enough to do already, and the idea of diverting attention with R&D that may come to nothing was difficult for us to justify. The grant offered a way to reduce the risk to a level we felt comfortable with - Stuart Green
Partnership challenges
'The technology partner we were looking for would need very specific expertise in the area of digital video analysis and processing, for example hiding data in video and extracting it. And they would need to have that knowledge already, because we would need it quickly for this project,' he added.

He researched UK universities and was delighted to find the one that most closely matched his requirements was just down the road at Sheffield University. 'They seemed good people to work with and were interested in this project, which was a new challenge for them and for the first time we felt we could create the prototype from a technical standpoint.

'We also needed to find an organisation that is familiar with the problem and had expertise on media asset management systems (MAM), which are widely used by companies to build inventories of content. 'Anything we produced would have to coexist and integrate with MAM systems, so we would need to incorporate compatibility with them in any commercial exploitation of our idea.

'For that we chose Integrated Broadcast Information Systems (IBIS), which specialises in this area; although we knew them we hadn't worked together.

'And we needed to find a guinea pig end-user that faces this problem but would be collaborative and supportive in developing a working product,' he said.

ZOO Digital found their answer in London-based CTVC London, an independent production company which produces video, radio and web content; they were interested and also not a customer. 'They were perfect,' said Stuart.

The difficulty had been in finding two suitable organisations that were not customers: 'By definition with research you don't know what you will find, and possibly we would decide not to take the idea forward and commercialise it, so there was a high risk of collaborating with a customer.'

The Technology Strategy Board call had been a tough one, encompassing not only technical development but also commercialisation challenges. And ZOO Digital would also need to test the prototype in a realistic environment: 'We knew that even if we could plug the skills gap we couldn't definitely say there was an opportunity; just because we could see the problem and solution that didn't necessarily mean we had a viable product commercially.

'As a small busy business, we have enough to do already, and the idea of diverting attention with R&D that may come to nothing was difficult for us to justify. The grant offered a way to reduce the risk to a level we felt comfortable with,' he explained.

'In the end, putting together the funding application was a last minute panic scoping out how much resources partners could commit to. But we were able to resolve this and the result was an award of £167,512 for us out of a total project funding of £338,754, where we had matched the grant. The project is called PARTEC, Persistent And Robust Tracking of Entertainment Content.

Three years on and we really do have a success on our hands; it has gone well, we have achieved all we set out to achieve, produced a demo, had feedback and are satisfied it is commercially viable. Our intention is to exploit it commercially - Stuart Green
Road to success
'Three years on and we really do have a success on our hands; it has gone well, we have achieved all we set out to achieve, produced a demo, had feedback and are satisfied it is commercially viable. Our intention is to exploit it commercially,' says Stuart.

Within the last few weeks, ZOO Digital has launched the first release of its new software. 'Commercialising further results of this project will take a bit longer as we need to file at least one patent, but what a good feeling that is going to be.

'One interesting thing that came up – well, fantastic actually - and which we hadn't anticipated, is to do with workflows which are usually for a specific function such as marketing.

'Our original idea was to make the ability to track workflow separate from the metadata, but during the project we realised that metadata and workflow are so closely linked we'd need to provide a generic workflow system that could be adapted for any creative media workflow.

'As we went along, we reshaped and re-planned what we were doing - the goals were the same, but the means by which they would be fulfilled changed during the project. It brought us clarity.

'It was a light bulb moment, really significant. The workflow is key. We have really made an amazing discovery here,' said Stuart.

ZOO Digital has now built a configurable workflow platform which has opened a substantial new opportunity which they are now very close to exploiting: 'This was a side of the project that we hadn't anticipated but the project revealed it and it has now had significant impact on our other products.'

The Technology Strategy Board project has enabled ZOO Digital to move forward and establish that its ideas could work in a way that would otherwise have been impossible - Stuart Green
From ideas to reality with the Technology Strategy Board
'The Technology Strategy Board project has enabled ZOO Digital to move forward and establish that its ideas could work in a way that would otherwise have been impossible.

'The funding has allowed us to turn our idea into a reality in a relatively short time, build a prototype and now turn it into a product which will enhance our portfolio and generate additional revenue.

The funding has allowed us to turn our idea into a reality in a relatively short time, build a prototype and now turn it into a product which will enhance our portfolio and generate additional revenue - Stuart Green
'It also meant we worked with great collaborators, which was very enjoyable. We learnt a lot from one another and will stay in touch – and there may be other opportunities for us to work together which we would thoroughly enjoy. We are also looking at applying for patents with Sheffield University,' explained Stuart.

'Overall, the project allowed us to feel that we had not only justified a public investment in R&D that will make our business more competitive on a world stage, but that the outcomes will be beneficial to our major customers, namely big Hollywood film studios.

We're just a small business in the UK but thanks to funding and support from the Technology Strategy Board our customers can see that we're progressive, innovative and take the initiative - Stuart Green
'It has been instrumental in enabling us to innovate in areas that are important to our customers and therefore strengthen their commitment to us.

'We're just a small business in the UK but thanks to funding and support from the Technology Strategy Board our customers can see that we're progressive, innovative and take the initiative.

'ZOO Digital is a story of a UK SME which now has something unique to offer in a global industry.'

ZOO DIGITAL FACT SHEET
ZOO Digital Group plc was founded in 2001 in Sheffield following the merger of two small internet companies
ZOO Digital are a software development company, creating products that are used in the creative media industries
ZOO Digital's products include ZOOcore workflow management system; ZOOsubs subtitling and captioning platform and ZOOpubs system to support conversion of titles to electronic books in the publishing industry
Their customers include major film studios, book publishers and marketing agencies
Over 20 patents have been granted
70 employees are working in their offices in Sheffield, London, Los Angeleles and Boston
Technology Strategy Board reference points for ZOO Digital
Thematic programme areas:
Digital economy
The Technology Strategy Board has identified 'Digital' as a core focus area for our current and future programmes. We define 'Digital' as the complex interaction of people, processes and technology that creates digital technologies – along with their socio-economic benefits.

Enabling technologies: Information and communication technology

The UK ICT sector includes more than 116,000 companies with revenues of more than £137bn in 2010 and contributes £66m GVA.

Our ICT programme seeks to stimulate innovation in software-intensive technologies, processes and systems. It has close connections with the electronics, sensors and photonics programme, which focuses on the hardware aspects of computing, and it underpins the digital programme, which focuses on the business challenges of ICT application in specific sectors.

Other opportunity areas - Creative industries

The creative industries form one of the UK's leading industrial sectors. Businesses ranging from advertising and crafts to performing arts and video games employ 1.4m people and contribute 5.3% of the country's output (GVA).

Innovative support tools:
(There are 13 Technology Strategy Board innovation support tools altogether)

Collaborative R&D

Collaborative R&D helps companies tackle specific technical or societal challenges by working collaboratively to create new products, processes and services. It encourages knowledge exchange, supply chain development and parallel working on complex system challenges. Collaborative R&D co-funds innovative projects involving partnerships between businesses, and between business and academia.

[buyn0w] 30/9/2013 21:35

Agree OD see the share price heading higher over coming days.

Hopefully some more interest from thestar article.