Immotion raises £1m to grow in-home offering

Virtual reality (VR) entertainment company Immotion Group announced a placing and a subscription of new shares to raise £1m on Thursday, to strengthen its balance sheet and provide funds to accelerate the growth of its in-home product ‘Let's Explore’.

The AIM-traded firm said the fundraising shares, assuming full take-up, would represent 6.2% of its enlarged issued share capital.

It said trading through to September had been “encouraging”, against the background of the current Covid-19 restrictions.

In October, it undertook a soft launch of its new 'Let's Explore Oceans' in-home product.

Early trading was described as “extremely encouraging”, with the board saying it boded well as a “substantive addition” to its location-based entertainment business.

Total revenue since marketing of the product started on 15 October, up to and including 15 November, was £0.21m excluding VAT.

Sales had continued to scale as marketing spend, albeit throttled back, increased.

Units sold from 15 to 31 October totalled 781, compared to 2,829 units sold in the first 15 days of November.

“We are thrilled at the response to the 'Let's Explore Oceans' product. Initial sales have been extremely encouraging and have given us the confidence to not only accelerate the roll-out of Let's Explore Oceans but to also commit to launching additional genres, being Dinosaurs and Space,” said chief executive officer Martin Higginson.

“Trading in our 'location-based entertainment' sites is encouraging given the circumstances, although the current UK lockdown has obviously impacted our UK revenues.”

Higginson noted that the majority of its location-based entertainment revenues were generated outside the UK.

“Raising additional funds to support the accelerated expansion of the 'Let's Explore' range is in my view the right thing to do.

“Furthermore, the fact that this funding has in the main been provided by the directors and their families shows their commitment and faith in the group's prospects.”

Launching a new product in such challenging times was described by Higginson as “tough”.

“The initial success of the 'Let's Explore Oceans' product is a real testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and I am looking forward to expanding both the geographies and product range in the coming months and years.”

At 1523 GMT, shares in Immotion Group were up 6.71% at 4.06p.