Swing Entertainment Company Info

This article lists all the official company information for Swing Entertainment AG. All information here dates between 2001 & 2003 and was sourced from various official Swing Entertainment domains & news sources. All info is provided without any edits & any changes are included with relevant dates included.

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SWING! Entertainment Media AG is developing, manufacturing, and marketing entertainment software for the men and media of the 21st century. The product portfolio of SWING! AG includes both licensed software and software manufactured by or on behalf of SWING! AG.

The contribution of individual game systems to the portfolio reflects the existing or expected market share of the corresponding hardware. In addition to Windows based PC systems and online systems, SWING! AG caters to all renowned video game platforms.

As an independent publisher SWING! AG covers all major areas of the value-addition chain of the entertainment industry: from development and license trading to all aspects of marketing including product marketing. Only the ultimate physical step of distribution is sublicensed to experienced distribution partners. The developmental activities and the so-called localisation, i.e. adaptation of products to the target markets, have been bundled as the activities of Conspiracy Entertainment (Europe) GmbH with SWING! AG holding a 100% share.

Founded in October 1998 as a limited liability company, SWING! AG was converted into a public limited company in November 1999. The company has been listed at the Neuer Markt stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, since 2 February 2000. The Managing Board of SWING! AG possesses long-standing experience. Its industry-specific contacts as well as the highly qualified staff and successful economic history of the company are strong indicators of the promising future of SWING! AG. The company has proven in the past that it can stand up for itself in the international competition for much sought after licenses and innovative technology. In the financial year 2000/2001, SWING! AG published 16 so-called full-price products, i.e. regularly priced products, in Europe. In addition, the company demonstrated its competitiveness by selling licenses to a US-based company and concluding an agreement with an Australian distributor.

PR & Marketing

In the year ended June 30, 2002, the Company greatly boosted the recognition of "Swing! Entertainment" as a brand. Foreign segments, in particular, and even more commercial customers in the domestic market, regarded Swing! as a well-known company.

Apart from the brand "Swing!", the Company's key titles are strengthened by extensive marketing and public relations efforts and activities with a special focus on those products, that are considered most likely to succeed in the mass-production market. Products and trademarks like "Enclave" are primarily marketed by direct advertising campaigns in the specialized media and end customer magazines and are moreover highlighted by PR-activities that are often accompanied by special events. In this context, we would like to mention the presentation of our products on the occasion of the Nürnberg toy trade fair, the E3 in Los Angeles or other music events in Germany.

By contracting a German and a French PR and marketing agency whose services are especially tailored to Swing!'s product range, the Company took another successful step towards a greater public awareness of the Company and its products. In Great Britain, one of the key sales regions of Swing!, Swing! Entertainment AG is now operating its own PR- & Marketing-office with two employees at present.

Production

PC CD-ROM production is quite secure at Swing! Entertainment Media AG since the presses and service providers for packaging and print are available in abundance. In the year 2001/2002, only small quantities of software for PC CD-ROM were sold.

In the production of console games each market contender is chained to the production capacities of the console manufacturers or their license partners as these alone can produce. The hardware manufacturers specify the technical and also the game plot standards and prior to product release it is the manufacturer who must first carry out a check and give his approval. One consequence of the approval procedures and the limited production capacities is that delivery times fluctuate and are only predictable to a very limited extent. On top of this the planning of product production and releases is impeded by the fact that some of the products require prior approval and release from the "theme" licensing parties for example for products based on " Tiny Toon Adventures™".

Development capacities for all kinds of platforms are ample, although the development of 2001/2002 underlined the need to select subcontractors with care before placing an order and to closely monitor the various stages of production with regard to the quality of the final product.

All of the Company's products display Germany's Green Eco Dot.

Swing! Entertainment Media AG uses the services of various logistics companies and does not have any warehousing facilities of its own.

Before any products are shipped they undergo a quality assurance procedure.

Participations

The Participations section was changed twice to reflect changes to the percentages owned by Swing Entertainment in other companies. The first edit was dated March 9th 2001 & remained the same until May 20th 2003. The statements below are in date order:

2001: Equity Interests

Presently, Swing! Entertainment Media AG has a stake in the following companies:

51 percent in Conspiracy Entertainment (Europe GmbH  -  50 percent in Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH
    
The stake in Conspiracy Entertainment GmbH enables Swing! Entertainment Media GmbH to pool its activities in the R&D area, whilst Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH adapts the products made by Midas Ltd. in England for markets in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

In this context, Swing! Entertainment Media AG holds the exclusive marketing rights to the products of both companies. Swing! Entertainment Media AG intends to make further acquisitions as regards software development studios and production companies with a view to enhancing its product portfolio.

2003:

SWING! Entertainment Media AG is currently holding shares in the following companies: 
100% Conspiracy Entertainment (Europe) GmbH     -     50%Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH

About Conspiracy Entertainment (Europe) GmbH:

Conspiracy Entertainment (Europe) GmbH provides services for SWING! Entertainment Media AG in the areas of content management and production. Managing numerous products that are developed simultaneously and mainly implemented by external specialists, its project management skills provide for a wide product pipeline and thus support the growth policy of SWING! AG. Furthermore the company specialises in localising licensed software, i.e. adapting software to the linguistic and cultural specifics of the respective target markets. For this, cutting-edge language production, QA, and translation methods come into operation.

About Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH:

Midas Interactive Entertainment Deutschland GmbH, based in Kaarst, Germany, was integrated into the group balance sheet applying the equity method. The England based Midas Interactive Entertainment LTD is a joint venture partner of SWING! AG.

Between the company and Midas Interactive Entertainment LTD there is serious disagreement about Midas Interactive Entertainment Deutschland GmbH. A fact-finding procedure through the arbitration tribunal agreed upon for such cases could not be effectuated due to the negative attitude of Midas Interactive Entertainment LTD. Moreover this partner did not take any steps as to the enforcement of alleged claims. As far as the company presently knows, possible claims would not be justified anyway.
It is scheduled to close Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH. This, however, is also subject to the outstanding approval of the other partners.
In the past fiscal year no sales were generated and consequently Midas Interactive Entertainment GmbH was no longer relevant for the result of SWING! Entertainment Media AG.

IPO - as the basis for further groth

SWING! AG has a superb basis on which to continue outperforming market growth in the future. We went public in order to bolster financing for our planned expansion an acquisitions. The proceed from the IPO enabled us to grow even more swiftly and press ahead with our strategic goals. Furthermore, we gained additional benefits: a stronger public profile thanks to the IPO, implicit advertising for our products, and an enhanced reputation in the market. As a publicly-listed employer, we are now more appealing when recruiting new staff. The success-linked bonuses for our staff will augment motivation and foster their entrepreneurial strengths.
In order to achieve our strategic goals, we have initiated: Promoting growth

We are planning to out-perform the average market growth figures. By the year 2002-3 we expect sales to have increased to DM 90.2 million and EBIT to have surged by a factor of ten to reach DM 19.4 million, with the gross return on sales thus hitting 21.5 percent in four years time.

The market

Since the very start of the entertainment software industry, this market has been characterized by rapid innovation cycles.

The technology for the creation of sophisticated entertainment software and the technology required to market it are both constantly in flux.

SWING! Entertainment Media AG is already investing heavily in the development of next-generation products as well as in tapping new distribution options.

Presently, the focus is on establishing on-line distribution channels for entertainment software up to pay-per-play level as well as on developing games for the next generation video consoles, for instance PlayStation 2 for Sony.

Key Figures

Profit and Loss Account     2001/02     2000/01     1999/00
Revenues                           12.10        16.10         9.10
Gross Profit Margin             0.83          5.20          3.30
EBITDA                               1.12          5.60           2.80
Net Earnings                       -3.68         0.93          0.67
EPS                                    -1.01         0.24          0.18

Balance Sheet                             2001/02     2000/01     1999/00
Balance Sheet Total                     17.9          22.9           23.9
Equity                                           15.8          19.3           19.3
Equity in % of total liabilities        88%          84%           81%
Depreciation and Amortisation     7.1            5.2            1.7

all figures in million EURO

Employees     2001/02     2000/01     1999/00
                         43              28             15

Sector:                  Software / Media
Employees:            36 per 01.09.01 - 43 per 01.09.02
Segment:               Neuer Markt
Ticker:                   SGV
Stock Exchange:    XETRA
ISIN:                      DE0005474407
WKN:                    547 440

FY ending 30th of June

                       2000     2001     2002e     2003e
Revenues            9,1     16,1       22,5      35,8
Net Earnings     0,67      0,93      1,20       1,88
EPS                 0,18      0,24      0,32       0,50
Revenue and Net Earnings in Mio. Euro, EPS in Euro

Key Facts:

IPO Date:    02.02.2000
Designed Sponsors:    Gontard & MetallBank, Concord Effekten AG

IPO Date:    02.02.2000
Designed Sponsors:    N.M. Fleischhacker AG
Concord Effekten AG
Free Float:    ca. 49%

SWING! Entertainment Media AG Share (30.06.2001)

Shares Outstanding:    3.800.000,00 Shares
Authorized Capital:      3.800.000,00 Euro
WKN:    547440
Issuing Price:    17,00 Euro
Reuters:            SGVG.F
Bloomberg:        SGV GR
Ticker:               SGV