EXPANSION OF NICKELODEON PARTNERSHIP TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETS AND BRICKLIVE ZOO UPDATE
22nd November 2019
Brick model of Chase from the PAW Patrol themed tour
Live Company Group plc (AIM: LVCG) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement for the expansion of the territories in which it can produce and exhibit themed tours associated with the Nickelodeon brand, including Nick Jr. as well as an update in respect of the Group’s BRICKLIVE Zoo programme.
NICKELODEON
On 12 June 2019, the Company announced it had secured a partnership with Nickelodeon UK Limited (“Nickelodeon UK”) to produce themed tours associated with Nickelodeon’s properties, including PAW Patrol, Top Wing and Shimmer and Shine throughout the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Following successful tours in the UK, the Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Brick Live International Limited (“BLIL”), has entered into an addendum to the UK agreement with Nickelodeon UK and Viacom International Media Networks (“VIMN”) (the “Agreement”).
Under the terms of the Agreement, the parties have agreed to expand the territories in which the Group can produce and exhibit themed tours associated with the Nickelodeon brand, including Nick Jr., to cover all countries globally (excluding the United States of America, including Puerto Rico). The parties also agreed that Nickelodeon UK’s rights, obligations and liabilities under the UK Agreement shall be novated to VIMN.
The Group will continue to have the rights, through to the end of 2024, to produce and create themed tours associated with certain Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. properties, including, inter alia, PAW Patrol, SpongeBob SquarePants and Top Wing, in return for a royalty fee based on the revenues of the themed tours.
Brick model of Marshall from the PAW Patrol themed tour
The Group will work with existing and new partners to facilitate the rollout of the Nickelodeon-themed BRICKLIVE tours internationally
VIMN, Nickelodeon UK’s parent company, is a division of Viacom Inc., is home to the leading portfolio of global, multi-platform entertainment brands with channels in over 180 countries and include the iconic brands such as, but not limited to the Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and the Paramount Network.
Popular kids TV shows
Andy Smith, Deputy Chairman of BRICKLIVE Group said: “We are thrilled to be expanding our IP Programme globally, and we are very excited to be working with Viacom International Media Networks to deliver themed tours of some of their most popular kids TV shows. Our relationship with the Nickelodeon UK team has gone from strength to strength, and I’m very grateful for their input to enable the Group to secure rights to the Nickelodeon brand across additional international markets.
The initial feedback from our customers of the PAW Patrol BRICKLIVE Tour in Blackburn Town Centre this summer has been overwhelmingly positive, so to take that success and expand on a global platform, is transformational for the Group and the BRICKLIVE brand.”
BRICKLIVE ZOO Programme
Building upon the success of the Group’s BRICKLIVE Brickosaurs tour at Marwell Zoo earlier this year, the Company is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, BLIL, has entered into a new two year contract with Marwell Wildlife, UK to provide themed tours that will be exhibited between April and September 2020 and 2021 at Marwell Zoo. The Group is working with Marwell Zoo to develop the concepts for these future tours.
Continuing the success of the Group’s BRICKLIVE Zoo programme, the Group has also signed contracts for themed tours in 2020 with Knowsley Safari, UK and Royal Burgers’ Zoo in the Netherland.
Building upon the success of the Group’s BRICKLIVE Brickosaurs tour at Marwell Zoo earlier this year, the Company is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, BLIL, has entered into a new two year contract with Marwell Wildlife, UK to provide themed tours that will be exhibited between April and September 2020 and 2021 at Marwell Zoo. The Group is working with Marwell Zoo to develop the concepts for these future tours.
The BRICKLIVE Zoo programme continues to go from strength to strength, demonstrating the popularity of our larger themed tours, which provide educational and interactive content that continues to attract existing and new customers to these venues year on year.
The Agreement with VIMN and the continued addition of tours and events for 2020 and beyond, provides the Group with increased forward visibility and gives the Board further confidence in the current market expectations for 2020, which remain unchanged.
David Ciclitira, Chairman LVCG said “I’m delighted to report the continued progress that BRICKLIVE has made since our Super Series events, with a strong pipeline of events already scheduled for 2020.
I’m very excited with the long term global contract with Viacom for Nickelodeon themed tours and this, along with our BRICKLIVE Exhibitions and the BRICKLIVE Zoo programme, will be the cornerstone of the Group going forward.
We now have a network of global partners, which is a key strength of the BRICKLIVE brand, and we expect this to grow further in 2020 and beyond, illustrating the growth and appeal of the Group over the last 24 months.”
Further information on this announcement including is available on our RNS page.
From Proactiveinvestors UK:
Live Company growing ahead of schedule as it clinches deals across the world
Snapshot
- Runs entertainment events under BRICKLIVE brand
- BRICKLIVE events have been held across multiple countries
- Five-year touring deal signed with Nickelodeon
"Securing forward sales and multi-year contracts provides us with significant confidence of the short and medium term growth strategy and, together with other revenue streams, our ability to deliver shareholder value" - David Ciclitira, executive chairman
What Live Company does
Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) holds events that use LEGO bricks to both educate and entertain adults and children through its BRICKLIVE brand.
These range from large BRICKLIVE events that attract hundreds, to smaller cafes that parents and children can enjoy while taking a break from shopping.
Since listing on AIM in December 2017, the Company has been pursuing an aggressive strategy of expansion and brand building that has paid off for the share price.
What it owns
Brick Live Group holds BRICKLIVE, an interactive event that allows people to learn, build and play with LEGO bricks.
Parallel Live is a joint venture with Three Six Zero to hold BRICKLIVE events in the US and Canada. The joint venture has agreed terms with Live Nation Entertainment to launch events this year. The first was held in Dallas in January.
Bright Bricks, acquired by Live Company last October, is a professional LEGO brick building firm. It makes custom LEGO brick and toy brick creations for clients across the globe including Rolls-Royce, Google, BT, Land Rover, Warner Brothers, LEGO, General Electric, The National Gallery, Maersk and Lufthansa.
How it is doing
Live Company said this year's profits will be “heavily weighted” to the second half.
In November, it expanded its five-year agreement with children’s entertainment group Nickelodeon to hold themed BRICKLIVE events across more countries following successful tours in the UK.
The AIM-listed firm will produce and exhibit BRICKLIVE tours themed around Nickelodeon shows and characters in all countries except the US until the end of 2024.
The BRICKLIVE Super Series of events, held across Europe from mid-September to early November, attracted nearly 85,000 visitors over the six shows, for a total of 70 shows over the full year.
In the six months to 30 June, the AIM-listed firm made an expected £1mln loss as opposed to £520,000 profit the year prior, due to costs related to the integration of Bright Bricks.
The latter was acquired in October 2018 for £8.5mln and has secured the entertainment group’s brick supply and increased its competitive advantage, meanwhile raising barriers to entry for other firms in brick-based entertainment. Live Company is in talks with the sellers to defer the consideration of the acquisition.
Sales dipped below £2mln from £2.8mln in the first six months of 2018, which Live Company said was because of an “unusually high” sale last year of Animal Paradise in China, which totalled US$800,000.
Inflexion points
• In 2020 it will organise its first BRICKLIVE show in South Africa, following a joint venture deal with event organiser WORLDSPORT
• In August, the media group signed a deal with entertainment firm Imagine Exhibitions Inc to help expand its BRICKLIVE tours in North America for a five-year term
• The company has signed with an arm of France’s largest exhibitors and venue operators, GL Events, for staging and promotion of its first BRICKLIVE show in France at the Parcs Des Expositions in Toulouse, to be held between 19 and 27 October
What the boss says: David Ciclitira, executive chairman
"This is a global deal, excluding the United States, the rest of the world is now covered. We have a relationship over a five-year period with Nickelodeon to build and use their assets in our environment."
"Our business model has evolved from day one, two and a bit years ago when we just had that one show."
What the broker says
In a note in June, analysts at Shard Capital forecast that Live Company would deliver an underlying pre-tax profit of £200,000 in its current financial year, which would then rise to £1.7mln in 2020 and £3.6mln in 2021.
Analysts also said that the deal Nickelodeon was “transformational” for the Company and would allow it to benefit commercially from leasing assets built using Nickelodeon’s intellectual properties (IPs) while also potentially opening the door to more IP deals with other major content partners.
Shard added that the market fundamentals for the group’s BRICKLIVE shows were “strong” with leisure spending showing historic long-term growth in addition to higher levels of disposable income from emerging economies which was fuelling the wider travel and leisure sectors.
Shard’s valuation has given a one-year range for Live Company of between 73p and 89p per share, which suggested “limited downside risk” alongside strong potential to outperform as newsflow underpinned its longer-term growth prospects.
Blue Sky
The company is planning to increase its presence in the southern hemisphere to maximise the use of assets during the European winter months.
Following the shows in Toulouse, France with GL Events, Ciclitira says that the company hopes to sign a longer partnership agreement to extend its presence in the country.
The entertainment group has also signed a three-year deal to tour in South Korea, first with its 'Mythical Beasts' exhibition running until August 2020, and raking in US$300,000 a year.
In September its subsidiary Brick Live International signed a deal with Snowman Enterprises to run a themed 'The Snowman and The Snowdog' tour across the UK and Ireland until January 2022.
###
From Vox Markets:
David Ciclitira, Chairman of Live Company Group (LVCG) talks about the expansion of their Nickelodeon partnership and provides a Bricklive Zoo update.
Live Company Group is a live events and entertainment Company, founded by David Ciclitira in December 2017. The Group is a network of partner-driven fan-based shows using BRICKLIVE created content worldwide. The Company owns the rights to BRICKLIVE - an interactive experience built around the creative ethos of the world's most popular construction toy bricks. BRICKLIVE, which is fast becoming a leading children's education and entertainment brand, actively encourages all to learn, build and play, and provides inspirational events and shows where like-minded fans can push the boundaries of their creativity. Bright Bricks is the Group's production centre for building brick based models. The Group is an independent producer of BRICKLIVE and is not associated with the LEGO Group.
[Watch video]
(Interview starts at 9 minutes 4 seconds)
###
From Proactiveinvestors UK:
Live Company secures new funding to boost 2020 programme
The 2020 programme will include up to 14 new BRICKLIVE themed tours, including the global rollout of the Nickelodeon-themed BRICKLIVE tours, the BRICKLIVE Zoo and BRICKLIVE touring programmes
Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) has established new loan agreements with existing investors to boost its build programme for 2020.
A revived offering will include up to 14 new BRICKLIVE themed tours, including the global rollout of the Nickelodeon-themed BRICKLIVE tours, excluding the US and Puerto Rico, the BRICKLIVE Zoo and BRICKLIVE touring programmes.
The new loan allows Live Company to place orders before the end of the year with specialist steel and brick suppliers, which have a lead time of between two and four months, to allow for launch dates in the first two quarters of 2020.
Live Company added it is in discussions with other intellectual property partners to create new themed touring shows.
“I anticipate 2020 will be a strong year for the group,” said chairman David Ciclitira in a release.
“The real growth story of the company will be realised in 2020 and 2021, when we begin the international rollout of our Nickelodeon themed BRICKLIVE tours in Q1 2020, develop new tours for the BRICKLIVE Zoo and BRICKLIVE touring divisions, and secure contracts with international partners, including new IP partners.”
The live events and entertainment group agreed to extend the maturity date of an existing loan by a year from December 2019 to December 2020 with hedge funds YA II PN and RiverFort Global Opportunities where £700,000 is outstanding.
A new loan facility was agreed with the pair for up to £1mln, of which £300,000 has so far been withdrawn, as well as a new subscription agreement for a £2mln equity investment for 6mln new ordinary shares at the price of 30p each, representing a 7% premium of Friday’s closing price.
###
From Alliance News via MorningstarUK:
Live Co Secures Financing For Bricklive Programme Expansion In 2020
(Alliance News) - Live Co Group PLC on Monday said it intends to accelerate its build programme for 2020 with up to 14 Bricklive themed tours.
The AIM-listed children's entertainment and education company said it has agreed with YA II PN Ltd and RiverFort Global Opportunities PCC Ltd to extend the maturity date of its existing loan facility by one year to the end of 2020. Live Co said GBP700,000 of this facility remains outstanding.
In addition, the company said it has entered into a further loan facility with the undisclosed investors for up to GBP1.0 million to ensure that it has the appropriate financial resources in place to fund its build programme.
Some investors have also agreed to invest GBP2.0 million through the subscription for 6.7 million of Live Co shares at a price of 30 pence each.
The stock was trading 14% higher in London on Monday morning at 31.99p a share, giving Live Co market capitalisation of GBP23.3 million.
"I'm delighted to report that we have agreed a new funding facility with the Investors which will assist the business to fast track its growth programme of new tours in 2020 and beyond," said Chair David Ciclitira.
He added: "I believe the real growth story of the company group will be realised in 2020 and 2021, when we begin the international rollout of our Nickelodeon themed Bricklive tours in the first quarter of 2020, develop new tours for the Bricklive Zoo and Bricklive touring divisions, and secure contracts with international partners, including new intellectual property partners. Accordingly, I anticipate 2020 will be a strong year for the group."
###
More Nick: Nickelodeon Big Base Camp to Open Easter 2020 at Secret London Location Making Kids Stars of the Show!
Originally published: Friday, November 22, 2019.
H/T: Toy World Magazine.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon International News and Highlights!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say by leaving a comment below! NickALive! welcomes friendly and respectful comments. Please familiarize with the blog's Comment Policy before commenting. All new comments are moderated and won't appear straight away.