11th Feb 2008 12:03
DQ Entertainment PLC11 February 2008 DQ Entertainment plc ("DQE" or "the Company") Announcement of Memorandum of Understanding Between DQE and PPC DQ Entertainment plc, (AIM: DQE) a leading animation and gaming contentproduction company, today announces that it has entered into a Memorandum ofUnderstanding ("MOU") with Percept Picture Company Limited ("PPC"). The MOU is the basis for the planned co-production of three animated featurefilms. This is in line with DQE's strategy to invest in co-production to obtainlarger percentages of the global intellectual property and distribution rightsin its productions. DQE and PPC, one of India's fastest growing and fully integrated contentcreation, aggregation and distribution companies, have agreed to co-developthree high quality animated feature films, two of which are in the mythologygenre and the third film will have a strong Bollywood theme and an estimatedbudget of approximately US$25 million. The films are planned for release in 2009and 2010. Mr. Tapaas Chakravarti, Chairman & CEO of DQE said: "Bollywood's foray into animated Indian feature films with "Hanuman" hastriggered many announcements of animated features by Bollywood houses. Thebusiness proposal and co production understanding between PPC and DQE is aimedat bringing high quality story telling and visuals and international success toIndia. We are excited about our plans with PPC and committed to produce highquality animated films from India for the world". Mr. Shailendra Singh, Joint MD of Percept Limited said, "We promise to deliverthe finest quality entertainment to the world audience through our associationwith DQE. The Indian animation feature market today finds itself atunprecedented values since the huge hit Hanuman in 2005. The movie not onlysmashed records in the animation segment, but went on to achieve further heightswhen it broke DVD sales in 2006 followed by the release of PPC's Return ofHanuman in 2007". The Indian animation industry is growing by leaps and bounds and according toNasscom, the Indian animation industry, which is now pegged at $550 million, isexpected to grow over 30 per cent annually in the next couple of years and reacha level of $1.3 billion by 2010." For further information contact: Tapaas ChakravartiDQ Entertainment plcc/o Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial +44 (0) 20 7861 3232 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialNick Lambert / Chris Hamilton / Antonia Coad +44 (0) 20 7861 3232 Evolution Securities LimitedTom Price / Jeremy Ellis / Chris Clarke +44 (0) 20 7071 4300 Notes to Editors • DQ Entertainment plc is a leading animation production company engaged in the production of traditional / digital animation and game art development with a substantial workforce and a global client base • DQ Entertainment plc currently produces animation for films, television series and console based games for a number of international production houses • DQ Entertainment plc has approximately 80 clients including Walt Disney Television Animation, Nickelodeon Animation Studios Inc., Electronic Arts, Marvel, American Greetings, NBC-Universal, BBC, Method Films and Take 2 Interactive • DQ Entertainment plc has production facilities in Hyderabad, India and has over 2,200 full time employees currently • For the six months to 30 September 2007, DQ Entertainment Limited reported revenues of US$8.92m and gross profits of US$1.69m • For the twelve months to 31 March 2007, DQ Entertainment Limited reported revenues of US$15.2m and EBITDA of US$4.4m About Percept Picture Company (PPC) Established in 2002, Percept Picture Company (PPC) is India's fastest growingand fully integrated Content Creation, Aggregation and Distribution Company. PPCexpertise in producing Motion Pictures, Television Software, Film Distributionand Marketing, Ad Film Production, Corporate Films, Live Events and SpecialProjects. PPC produces innovative and quality films through an efficient filmmaking process, by integrating content production, distribution, tie-ups forexhibitions, broadcasting and music rights. Through innovative marketing,content quality and distribution techniques, PPC has succeeded in securing longterm relationships with its clients. Percept Picture Company is a part of Percept Holdings, a strategic holdingcompany that promotes, owns and manages a spectrum of marketing communicationcompanies. Percept Holdings has a capitalized billing of INR 16.5 billion andemploys over 1,000 employees in 64 offices across 22 locations. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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