Ymagis Group has asked the Commercial Court of Nanterre to place one of the French subsidiaries of its Éclair business unit, Éclair Cinema SAS, in receivership given the performance of its activities in post-production and the restoration of cinematographic and audio-visual works. Éclair Cinema represented 5.5 percent of Ymagis Group’s revenue for the first half of 2018 and almost all losses recorded over this same period. In 2017, the subsidiary generated revenue totaling €12.4 million.
Éclair Cinema mainly focuses on the French market in the post-production and restoration sectors, activities which are severely affected by fierce competition, shrinking markets in terms of volume and value, and the announced decline in restoration project financing by public bodies.
Subject to the decision of the Court, Éclair Cinema plans to implement a thorough restructuring of its activities, refocusing them towards specialisation in an innovative service offer for creative teams and post-production laboratories, and adjusting its production capacities in restoration.
This procedure and the measures, which will be set up under the authority of the Court should enable Éclair Cinema to redress its operation and ensure its long-term future.
In this way, the Éclair business unit will be better able to concentrate its efforts and investments on its adaptation activities (subtitling, dubbing), digital distribution, preservation and content delivery to cinemas (films, live events, etc.) and on the digitalisation of its services. The implementation this year of the ÉclairTrack and ÉclairPlay platforms which use the ÉclairBox and ÉclairExpress technological solutions are the first positive results of this policy, which will continue in the coming weeks with new platforms for rights-holders being brought to market (ÉclairSend, ÉclairScreener and ÉclairStore, among others).
This decision reflects the Group’s determination to steer its activities towards promising sectors and profit margin contributors.
Ymagis Group states that the holders of its EuroPP loan have unanimously given their agreement to this operation, in accordance with the provisions of the issuance contracts for these loans. In line with the applicable regulations, Ymagis Group will issue statements at each new stage of the procedure.
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