23 October 2013
Catalyst Media Group plc
("Catalyst" or the "Company")
SIS
The Board of Catalyst announces that, at a Board Meeting of Satellite Information Systems Holdings Ltd ("SIS") held on Tuesday 22 October, a decision was made to close SIS's Outside Broadcasting division, following the loss of the contract with the BBC announced earlier this month. Catalyst owns approximately 20.54 per cent. of the share capital of SIS.
The closure of the Outside Broadcasting division is not expected to have a material impact on the future trading profitability of the core trading business of SIS as a whole, namely the racing and ownership of related media rights through to 2017. However, the costs of this decision, which are still under review, are expected to be treated as an exceptional item in the audited accounts of SIS for the financial year ended 31 March 2014 and are therefore expected to impact this year's profitability for SIS and, to a lesser extent, the profits for the following year. This will have a resultant impact on the profitability of Catalyst, whose sole asset is its investment in SIS. The remaining business of SIS is trading profitably and in line with budget with strong positive cash flow. The future dividend policy of SIS will be considered later this year.
In the light of the closure of the Outside Broadcasting division, the Board of Catalyst will review the carrying value of its investment in SIS, which as at 30th June 2012 was approximately £34.6m and will likely determine to reduce that value in the audited accounts for the year ended 30th June 2013, which it expects to publish in December 2013.
Enquiries:
Catalyst:
Michael Rosenberg, Non-Executive Chairman
+44 (0) 77 8572 7595
Melvin Lawson, Non-Executive Director
+44 (0) 20 7637 8412
Strand Hanson Limited
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494
James Harris
Richard Tulloch
Angela Hallett
