Interim Results

18 September 2018

VR Education (AIM: VRE; ESM: 6VR), a leading virtual reality ('VR') technology company focused on the education space, today announces its maiden interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2018 (the 'Period').

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue up 30% to €300k (H1 2017: €230k).
  • Revenue for the year expected to be heavily weighted towards H2 and the Group remains on track to meet its full year target.
  • EBITDA loss of €1.2 million (H1 2017: loss of €0.1 million), in line with management expectations which includes legal and professional costs in relation to the IPO of €0.6m
  • Loss before tax of €4.1 million (H1 2017: loss of €0.2 million), in line with management expectations, driven by the inclusion of the following items:
    • A non-cash fair value loss arising on derivate financial liabilities of €2.6 million1
    • Extinguishment costs of €0.3 million2
  • Strong cash position at 30 June 2018 with net cash of €4.9 million.
  • Loss per share for the period of €0.02 (H1 2017: €1.15).

1 arising from the conversion of convertible debt and preference shares to ordinary equity in Immersive VR Education Limited ("IVRE") prior to the acquisition of IVRE by the Group.
2 comprising a non-cash element of €0.2 million arising from share warrants issued to debt and preference shareholders in IVRE on conversion and also €0.1 million cash contributions made by IVRE to debt and preference shareholders as part of the commercial agreements entered into on conversion.

Operational Highlights

  • Successful placing to raise £6.0 million before expenses and admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and to the ESM market of the Irish Stock Exchange on 12 March 2018.
  • Apollo 11 VR educational experience selected to be part of the launch collection for Oculus Go, Oculus' new all-in-one VR headset.
  • Team strengthened with the appointment of key strategic hires including a new Chief Technology Officer.
  • Loren Carpenter, one of the founders of Pixar Animation Studios, appointed as an adviser.

Post Period End Highlights

  • Successful launch in August 2018 of Titanic VR, the Group's highly anticipated immersive gaming experience, now available to purchase on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality.
  • Apollo 11 HD version to be released on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality in early Q4 2018.
  • Successful completion of the "1943: Berlin Blitz" experience in collaboration with BBC and nominated for best Linear Virtual Reality experience at the Venice Film Festival in September 2018.
  • The Group has put in place a cliff-edge bonus plan for executive directors with three components:
    • Operational Cash Breakeven
    • Total Revenue
    • Engage Revenue
  • These targets have been put in place for the year ended 30 June 2019 and were set by the remuneration committee comprising two Non-Executive Directors.

David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, said: "The Board and I are delighted by the positive response to our successful admission to AIM and the ESM and the Group is pleased to report that further substantial operational progress since admission.

The Group has grown from 20 staff prior to admission to 31 staff at the interim reporting date. This includes a number of key strategic hires including our Chief Technical Officer. The Group is delighted with the dedicated and talented team that it has assembled.

The Group released a major update of ENGAGE Alpha on 30 July 2018 with significantly increased functionality. This introduced the web application, the user account system, a new avatar system among other major updates. This is a significant step towards the Group's first full commercial release in Q4 2018.

The Group has successfully launched the full version of Titanic VR on Oculus, Steam and will soon launch across the US & EU PlayStation Network. This has been very well received and early sales figures look promising.

The Board would like to thank our new and existing shareholders for their support and the Group looks forward to capitalising on significant market opportunities over the coming months."

Investor and Analyst Meeting

A meeting for analysts will be held at 10.45am today at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN. A copy of the Interim Results presentation is available at the Company's website, http://www.vreducationholdings.com

An audio webcast of the analysts' meeting will be available after 12pm today:
http://webcasting.buchanan.uk.com/broadcast/5b6c04ac49f1e90e16902994

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

 

For further information, please contact:

VR Education Holdings plc
David Whelan, CEO
Sandra Whelan, COO

Tel: +353 87 665 6708
[email protected]

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP(Nominated Adviser)
James Caithie / Liam Murray / Richard Nash

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880

Shard Capital Partners LLP(Joint Broker)
Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9952

Davy(Joint Broker & ESM Adviser)
Fergal Meegan / Ronan Veale / Barry Murphy

Tel: +353 1 679 7788

Buchanan(UK Financial PR)
Henry Harrison-Topham / Chris Lane / Tilly Abraham

Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000
[email protected]

Fuller Marketing (Irish Corporate PR)
Ruth Fuller / Sheila Kelleher

Tel: +353 87 981 3176
[email protected]

 

Notes to Editors

VR Education, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, is an early stage VR software and technology group based in Waterford, Ireland, dedicated to transforming the delivery methods of education and corporate training by utilising VR technologies to deliver fully immersive virtual learning experiences. The Group's core focus is the development and commercialisation of its online virtual social learning and presentation platform called ENGAGE, which provides a platform for creating, sharing and delivering proprietary and third-party VR content for educational and corporate training purposes.

In addition to the ongoing development of the ENGAGE platform, the Group has also built two downloadable showcase VR experiences, being the award-winning Apollo 11 VR experience and the Titanic VR experience.

On 12 March 2018, VR Education listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Enterprise Securities Market, a market regulated by Euronext Dublin.

For further information, please visit www.vreducationholdings.com.