The boss of Yorkshire-based subtitling and dubbing business Zoo Digital has hailed turnaround efforts.
Stuart Green told the London Stock Exchange of a renewed sense of confidence in the Sheffield-based supplier to TV and movie studios and streaming giants. Half-year results for the six months to the end of September show adjusted Ebitda was up 18% to $2m and operating losses narrowed from $2.5m to $1.2m.
That came despite a 19% fall in revenues to $22.4m, though Zoo pointed out that first half revenues last year had benefited from a backlog of work following the Hollywood strikes which had put major pressure on the business along with customer reorganisations in the wake of the Covid boom in content consumption.
Restructuring had been under way since the firm's 2024 financial year, including the shedding of staff and moving of some activity to Chennai in India. It has helped Zoo to reduce fixed costs from $23.2m to $15.5m .
After the disruptions of recent years, investors were told first half 2026 trading had brought more stable revenue. Zoo has focused on launching a premium "fast track" localisation service - including dubbing, subtitling and captioning - and bringing AI into its operations, making for a "leaner, more agile operating model".
Mr Green, CEO of Zoo Digital, said: "These results demonstrate that Zoo has started to turn the corner following industry disruption. We are now on a more solid footing with a rightsized cost base, stable revenues, improved profitability, and generating cash. We are focused on improving our working capital position, investing in our technology, and further expanding our existing international operations.
"To have achieved this whilst integrating AI into our workflows - contributing to the launch of our market-leading Fast Track service - and completing an international reorganisation of our business, is a credit to the hard work of the team here at Zoo.
"Throughout this we have maintained the high levels of quality demanded by our customers and have created a foundation on which we believe we can capitalise on the opportunities we now see in front of us. With certain of our customers becoming more open to adopting technology to reach global audiences faster, I believe Zoo is positioned to benefit as the only truly tech-first end-to-end vendor in our market. We therefore look to the future with a renewed sense of confidence."
Trading since September 30 is said to have been in line with expectations with streamers increasingly looking for fast turnaround localisation.
