Immotion heads for breakeven as it signs up new sites

Out-of-home virtual reality entertainment company Immotion Group has signed contracts in the past week with the London Eye, a further four aquariums and with its first European zoo partner, it announced on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said that in addition, it agreed terms, subject to contract, with a further nine aquariums and five entertainment sites.

It said the aggregate total across the sites, being both contractually agreed and subject to contract, was 93 headsets, all of which were scheduled to be installed during the first quarter of 2020.

The company currently has 136 paid-for headsets in stock, 93 of which would be deployed to fulfil the contracts.

Its board said it was “delighted” that included in the new partner sites was the installation of a six-seater mini-theatre solution at the London Eye attraction.

The installation would feature the company’s virtual reality (VR) rollercoaster experience, Tower Coaster, where customers would be able to see London from 400 feet above the Thames, enjoying the sites of the city, while riding the “thrilling” experience.

Immotion said the installation was joining the recently-announced eight-seater mini-theatre currently being installed at the neighbouring Sea Life London location, sited in the County Hall building on the south bank of the River Thames.

Immotion noted that the majority of the new installations would be deployed in aquariums, increasing the total number of aquarium partners to 26, from 14, with aquarium-based headsets rising to 107, from 52.

Average weekly revenue per headset in the aquarium sector through 2019 was £476, and during the busy Christmas holiday period an average of £794 per week was achieved.

As a result of the new agreements, the company said it believed it would reach monthly EBITDA breakeven at or around the end of the first quarter, based on its forecasted costs.

It added that it was expecting more partners signing in early 2020.

“We are thrilled with the ongoing response to our offering,” said commercial director Rod Findley.

“The partner team have been working hard throughout the last quarter of 2019 to secure these new sites.

“The interest from aquarium partners is a strong endorsement of our focused model.”

Findley said Immotion and its partners were “very pleased” with both the performance and audience reaction, adding that with 19 new partners agreeing to a further 93 headsets, that bode well as the firm headed towards monthly profitability.

“Our experienced team have been working on a number of additional experiences in new verticals which will allow us to broaden our partner base as we start to expand our offering into 2020.

“This, combined with our new larger format 'theatre' offering, will allow us to provide a wider range of experiences to a much bigger partner audience.

“We are in advanced talks with a number of larger locations and look forward to updating the market on these new additions in due course.”

At 1542 GMT, shares in Immotion were up 3.94% at 7.12p.