Software developer and interactive multimedia program producer Epic Multimedia Group Plc, has turned in encouraging maiden results. The Brighton-based group that floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market said it was delighted with the success of the placing, which raised 4.7m British pounds net of expenses. Pre-tax losses were down at 1.9m pounds from 2.5m pounds last time on revenue that jumped 43% to 4.2m pounds. The flotation enabled the company to restructure as well as strengthen the group’s balance sheet by the redemption of 1.1m pounds in preference shares and by converting the 3.6m pound loan stock into share capital. Bank borrowings have been replaced with net cash, which stood at 3.4m pounds at year end. The group’s EMG Publishing division has four major games currently in production, three of which are expected to be completed on schedule within the next couple of months. Worldwide distribution deals for its role-play narrative adventure game, Takeru, totaled $800,000 in advanced royalties during the year and in July, a major funding and distribution deal worth about $1m was signed with GTE Entertainment, part of the GTE Corp telecommunications group. Chief executive Jim Brathwaite said Epic had been exp loring oportunities at the cheaper end of the market and expected to announce details of a new range of budget titles over the next few months. The second business in the group, EMG Interactive, which produces interactive multimedia programs that are predominantly commissioned by companies for corporate training and medical scientific education, continued steady expansion during the year. Major projects during the year include work for International Language Training, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Post Office. The Consumer team has been appointed by the Automobile Association to produce a series of titles on CD-ROM and several programs were completed for the BBC. In December EMG Interactive started work on a project to plan, consult and design Scotland On Line, a large UK Internet project that is a joint venture between Scottish Telecom, ScottishPower Plc’s telecommunications subsidiary and publishers D C Thomson & Co Ltd. Chairman Michael Inwards said the group had made an encouraging start to the new fiscal, and revenues from new product launches are expected to feed through to the bottom line. No dividend will be paid.
