Zinc Media shares dip in spite of company's swing to profits

Zinc Media shares dropped over 10% despite the company have swung to a profit for the six months leading up to 31 December on the back of a 6% rise in revenues to £9.76m.

The television production company turned a profit of £96,000 compared to a loss of £490,000 for the same period in 2016 after acquiring Tern Television and "consolidating its position" as a 'super indie' in the television industry.

David Galan, chief executive of Zinc Media Group, said: "As a result of the acquisition of Tern Television and the ongoing implementation of structural changes to the television business, the Group is now well placed to meet demand and address the evolving UK and international TV markets."

The acquisition of Scottish based factual programming company Tern Television will "enhance the group’s creative capabilities2, according to Zinc, and was achieved through a successful equity fundraising of £3.5m in November.

Zinc has a net cash position of £0.23m, compared to a net debt position of £1.67m at the same point in 2016.

The company said it has focused on reacting to a tough market environment for its digital division and is pushing to develop new client relationships as its traditional work on campaigns for blue chip corporations becomes more competitive.

This push into new areas has been rewarded with wins with Body Shop, BBC and Freemantle Media.

"With a period of significant restructuring behind us, the short-term objectives are to make the TV business more efficient, through improving our TV organisational structure and to ensure that we achieve higher net margins from our position as one of the leaders in the independent TV sector," said Galan.

For 2018, the company's order book stands at £14.4m and Zinc is stated that it is focused on obtaining further domestic and international commissions to be realised throughout the year.

As of 1146 GMT, Zinc Media Group’s shares were down 13.33% at 0.65p.