Business
Trading update - continued roll-out of headsets
Trading update - continued roll-out of headsets.
About this update from Huddled Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 5690X Immotion Group PLC 20 December 2019 \n\nImmotion Group plc\n(\"Immotion Group\", the \"Company\")\n \n Trading update - continued roll-out of headsets\n \nImmotion Group, the UK-based immersive virtual reality (\"VR\") 'Out of Home' entertainment group, is pleased to provide a trading update. In particular, the Company has grown its installed headset base to 302. The split of headsets is currently as follows:\n \n\n\n\n\nSegment\n\n\nHeadsets\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n\nImmotion VR\n\n\n117\n\n\n\n\nPartners\n\n\n185\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n\nTotal\n\n\n302\n\n\n\n\n \nBased on our visible pipeline, we expect to see a significant acceleration in new installation activity as we go into the New Year. We believe that our existing estate, combined with expected headset installations, will result in an installed base that should deliver monthly underlying EBITDA breakeven (based on our forecasted operating costs) by or around the end of Q1 2020. \n \nAs previously announced on 30 July 2019, we are now focusing on our Partner model and more particularly, in the short term, on the aquarium sector. We have found that higher yielding opportunities are offered by \"edutainment\" verticals, and have shied away from the more general family entertainment centre market, which we believe is too crowded. \n \nWe have seen significant interest from large numbers of aquaria, in both the USA and Europe, and we expect the majority of our installations in the short term to be in this segment. As we anticipated, this segment has outperformed the overall Partner segment, with average weekly revenue per headset, in the year to date, of £442, compared to an overall Partner average of £305. We expect the average Partner revenue per headset to grow strongly as we increase the number of aquaria installations in the overall blend.\n \nWhilst the initial appeal of our offering for partners has been ancillary revenue from a small footprint (2-4 headsets), we are beginning to see demand from very high traffic destinations for larger installations. These could become key exhibits in their own right and become more integral to the visitor experience. We will update the market as these opportunities develop.\n \nConsequently, we are very pl...