Zoo reports progress despite changes that lead to annual loss

Despite this, the Sheffield-based firm, which provides software to major Hollywood studios and global broadcasters such as the BBC, said results for the year to March 31 reflect substantial progress.

It pointed to a 20 per cent increase in annual revenue to £7.4m following the expansion of its customer base.

Zoo’s CEO Stuart Green said: “This was achieved despite significant disruption from corporate activity in one of our largest customers, which depressed trading during the second half.

“Although we have been impacted by continuing changes that have been taking place in the video entertainment industry, we believe that there is a growing demand for digital distribution, localisation and access services.”

Analyst Andrew Darley at FinnCap said: “Revenue from the largest customer has reduced from 68 per cent of total revenue to 53 per cent, while major customer relationships continue to be excellent. Revenue growth has been delivered despite corporate activity at a further major customer, which is ongoing.”

The group’s ZOOsubs software is now used by five of the six largest film and TV studios in the US.

It is also used by content creators, owners and publishers around the world, including BBC Worldwide, which has used ZOOsubs to create a centralised, searchable system to manage BBC subtitles.