Vista Group update on impact of COVID-19

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Vista Group International Ltd, L3, 60 Khyber Pass Road, Newton, PO Box 8279, Symonds St, Auckland 1150, NZ





MARKET ANNOUNCEMENT
4 June 20 20, Vista Group International Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

Update on the impacts of COVID-19

Vista Group International Limited (NZX & ASX:VGL) provides an update on the impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic on its businesses and steps being taken to address these.
Operating Update
The majority of Vista Group’s global workforce continue to work from home. A small number
of employees have returned to work at Vista Group’s New Zealand head office, with the focus
there being on ensuring operation in accordance with level two requirements.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the film industry globally,
including the customers of Vista Group.
Cinemas in most countries currently remain closed and those that are able to open are
generally subject to new mandated operating requirements, including social distancing and
capacity restrictions, and generally do not have new content to show moviegoers as a result
of studios having delayed the release of new films.
Vista Group companies have continued to work to support their customers during the
lockdown, and in preparation for potential reopening:
• Vista Cinema has released the Cinema Re-opening Kit to really strong demand – with
the Dynamic Social Distance seating capability very popular and already in use in
cinemas that have opened in Texas
• Movio has launched Movio Research 2.0 in the USA and the UK and Australia,
focused on increased self-service and capability for studios
• Vista Cinema has worked with cinemas in the USA to re-configure mobile apps to enable
their customers to purchase popcorn and other items through kerb-side pickup
• Vista Cinema has partnered with a local New Zealand company – Shift72 – to enable
cinemas to implement their own branded TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand)
platforms, with customers already live in the USA and New Zealand
• Movio has launched ‘tea with Movio’ – a weekly webinar series around best practice in
movie marketing
Both Vista Cinema and Movio have been successful in winning new business over the COVID-
19 pandemic period – with the majority of these in Europe.

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Vista Group International Ltd, L3, 60 Khyber Pass Road, Newton, PO Box 8279, Symonds St, Auckland 1150, NZ


Balance Sheet Initiatives
As previously announced, Vista Group has responded to the challenging circumstances
presented by the COVID-19 pandemic by taking wide-ranging measures to strengthen its
balance sheet to ensure it is best placed to weather significant downside scenarios,
including:
• successfully completing a NZD$65 million capital raise, with excellent support from its
existing institutional and retail shareholders
• Directors voluntarily reducing their remuneration by 30%
• the Chief Executive Officer voluntarily reducing his salary by 30% and the senior
leadership team voluntarily reducing their salaries by 25%
• over 80% of Vista Group’s employees volunteering to work reduced hours for reduced
pay
• applying for and receiving government relief for its businesses in New Zealand, the
USA the UK and the Netherlands, including by way of the New Zealand wage subsidy
and the USA Paycheck Protection Program
• cancelling the 2019 final dividend and terminating the agreement to acquire a further
14.5% stake in Vista China
• implementing hiring and salary freezes and terminating engagement with all non-
essential contracting resources
Further Measures
In addition to the above steps, Vista Group has undertaken a comprehensive review of its
businesses against future scenarios to ascertain the extent to which additional cost reduction
measures need to be implemented.
The result of this review is that the company has today begun consultation with its staff around
a proposed new structure for the core Vista Group companies – Vista Group, Vista Cinema,
and Movio. This proposal provides for a new organisation structure worldwide – a structure
with fewer people than the current structure.
Vista Group Chief Executive Office Kimbal Riley said “We are operating in a situation where
we do not know when our customers (80%+ of Vista Group customers are cinemas) will be
able to reopen in a meaningful way. This has had, and continues to have, a significant impact
on their businesses – and therefore ours.”
“It is also clear to us that our customers’ businesses will change when they do reopen, and so
Vista Group will need to change in order to address their new needs, and position ourselves
optimally to “enhance the moviegoer experience” in whatever a “new normal” looks like post-
COVID-19.”
“Over recent months we have had significant assistance from government subsidies, and from
our employees volunteering to reduce their hours and their income. However, we cannot
continue to depend on government subsidies (which in New Zealand cover roughly 1/3 of the
average salary of our people), and we do not believe it is right to require our people to reduce
their hours and income for an unquantified, but potentially extended period.”
“We have therefore taken the decision to implement a restructure of all our core businesses
(Vista Group, Vista Cinema, and Movio) in all our offices. Whilst this will have a significant

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Vista Group International Ltd, L3, 60 Khyber Pass Road, Newton, PO Box 8279, Symonds St, Auckland 1150, NZ


impact on a number of people, we will ensure everyone is treated with the utmost respect and
given appropriate support”.

“If this proposal proceeds in its current form, we expect to achieve annualised cost savings
of between NZD$12 million and $15 million from this reorganisation.”
Mr Riley concluded: “We have very strong relationships with our customers, for whom we
deliver mission critical solutions, and we believe this proposed change, combined with the
other measures we have taken, will cement Vista Group’s position as the leading provider for
software and data solutions for the global film industry in the post COVID economy.”

For further information please contact:

Kimbal Riley
Chief Executive Officer
Vista Group International Ltd
Contact: kimbal.riley@vista.co


Matt Cawte
Chief Financial Officer
Vista Group International Ltd
Contact: matt.cawte@vista.co