PARAGON ENT. ORD 0.1P (DI) 
By Paragon Entertainment Limited
Paragon Entertainment Limited (PEL.L) (the "Company" or the "Group") , the AIM listed attractions design, production and fit-out business is today providing an update on its trading based on unaudited financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2012, in advance of the announcement of its interim results on 19 September 2012.
Highlights
· Record order book of £11.7m for H2 2012 and into 2013
· Design and build activity at record level following significant new project wins and the successful completion of large projects including the Titanicvisitor attraction in Belfast, Chocolate - York's Sweet Storyand Web Lab Chrome Experimentat the Science Museum in London
· Trading in H1 2012 in line with expectations
Trading Update
Revenue and profits for H1 2012 are in line with projections, with record levels of both confirmed and pipeline projects in the Design and Build segment of the business.
Group net cash balances at 30 June 2012 were £1.6m (net cash after borrowings was £1.2m).
The Group will announce its interim results on 19 September 2012.
Design and Build
The Design and Build business has performed exceptionally well and continues to exceed our internal expectations.
Our completed H1 works include high profile projects within the new Titanicvisitor attraction in Belfast, the Sea City Museumin Southampton, Chocolate - York's Sweet Story, The Lost Cellarsat Alnwick Castle, Giants Causewayvisitor attraction and Web Lab Chrome Experimentat the Science Museum in London and the Cairo Children's Centre for Creativity.
As we enter into H2, we are pleased to report project wins including at the new Wallace and Gromit dark rideat Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a new visitor gallery at Eureka!, a new visitor experience at York Minster as well as numerous smaller projects. The impact of these new projects is a record production order book for the remainder of 2012 and into 2013. In total, the value of confirmed orders amounts to £4.0m in H2 2012 and a further £7.7m in 2013.
Our pipeline of potential new projects continues to increase and now stands above £50 million. Structural changes within the sector and the Company have led to a resurgence of opportunities, and the business remains well placed to exploit these opportunities.
Attractions
Further to the update at the time of our annual results, we have continued to make progress on the roll-out of our proprietary attractions. The concepts have been well received and we are at various stages of discussion and negotiation regarding a number of exciting opportunities. We are targeting the completion of a multi-attraction site by the year end.
CEO Comment
Mark Pyrah, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Since the beginning of the year, the Design and Build segment has continued to deliver on existing projects and win substantial new contracts. The latter has been driven by the highly successful conversion of our pipeline and has created a record order book for the company going forwards. Aside from this confirmed project list, our prospective pipeline has doubled in size over what was previously a record level. In the Attractions space, we have had some positive recent developments and we hope to update the market in the near future.
Overall the Group continues to trade in line with our expectations and the outlook for the year to 31 December remains consistent with our trading update on 25 June 2012."
20 August 2012
Ends
For further information please contact:
Paragon Entertainment Limited Mark Pyrah Cenkos Securities plc | Tel: +44 (0)19 0460 8020 Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8900 |
Ivonne Cantu / Max Hartley (Nomad)
Alex Aylen / Julian Morse
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