UNIT gets major cash injection from media investor Mike Luckwell
Leading post-production facility and creative services company UNIT announces today, on the eve of their first birthday, a major six figure investment from Mike Luckwell, who has provided Venture Capital for anumber of successful media companies including HIT Entertainment. This ishis first investment in the post production sector since founding The Moving Picture Company.
The investment enables UNIT to more than double in size and expand into the adjoining building. On completion UNIT will have increased their existing eight Apple Final Cut Pro online editing suites to 18. This new and enlarged facility will make UNIT the largest Final Cut Pro finishing house worldwide and demonstrates the increasing power, flexibility and industry wide acceptance of Apple-based products in professional broadcast. Led by the BBC and UNIT in the UK, Final Cut Pro has gathered accolades from programme makers internationally and in every broadcast sector. Final CutPro's acceptance as a sophisticated online edit system is revolutionising the post-production and visual effects industries. With this new capital expenditure and expansion UNIT is emerging as a market leader at the forefront of the technological revolution taking place in post-production.
UNIT is now a full-service post-production operation. Clients will be able tochoose between UNIT's own team of editors or freelancers, and will also be able to use their own personnel. Flexibility in a rapidly changing market is a key part of the UNIT proposition.
Simultaneously, UNIT announces that some of the new funding is to be applied to the rapid growth of its special effects division, UNIT Effects. In addition to a significant increase in hardware, effects power and capacity
UNIT has acquired VFX company Split Image. UNIT will continue to offer online editing and grading services but will also include dedicated in-house visual effects design and creative capabilities. A further application of funds will be the installation of a new in-house audio division with 5.1 surround sound, to increase the range of high end services
UNIT offers for both high definition and standard definition clients; investment in the newest upgrades to Apple's Final Cut Pro recently launched at NAB 2007, and expansion of their all-digital machine room to offer a broader range of services to a wider range of clients.
In its start-up year turnover exceeded £1m, and this is projected to accelerate at a rate of around 250% over the forthcoming 12 months. Plans are already being made to continue that rate of growth for a further year.
As the world of internet viewing, VOD and IPTV converge at an ever-increasing rate with conventional broadcast, UNIT is uniquely placed to offer services to a broad-based clientele in new digital media as well as from the terrestrial broadcast community.
Mike Luckwell says, “The production industry is undergoing a period of revolution rather than evolution. Conventional technologies at every level are under review by broadcasters and producers alike. The audience is rapidly being segmented across more platforms and channels, leading to a drive for ever more flexible, cost-effective, and creative techniques in production, visual effects and post-production. UNIT will be playing a strong role in that revolution. There is a tremendous surge in digital and tapeless production and the advent of TV on the web. All this conspires to put UNIT in an excellent position to move forward rapidly with real potential for growth. In any investment timing and management are two vitally important factors. UNIT has a terrific management team and it's in the right place at the right time”.
Mike Luckwell founded the Moving Picture Company and it remains the largest post-production and effects company in Europe today. Subsequently, he became MD of Carlton Communications Plc which eventually merged with Granada to become ITV Plc. In the late 80s, he became a significant shareholder in WPP, the world's second largest marketing services group. In 1991, Mike Luckwell invested in, and became a director of, HIT Entertainment Plc. Today, he has a number of investments and is also Chairman of UK Post & Services, the industry's trade body representing the film and broadcast services industry. He will become a Non Executive Director of UNIT.
David Peto, Managing Director, UNIT, says: “We couldn't be more excited about Mike's involvement as an investor in UNIT and that this has facilitated the acquisition of Split Image and our accelerated expansion. As an investor Mike has the vision that matches our ambitions. This, coupled with our industry leading knowledge of Final Cut Pro and development of our new services, means we're ideally positioned as one of the fastest growing players in the industry.”