Noida (Delhi-NCR) based animation studio, Digitoonz Media and Entertainment which opened its second animation studio in Kolkata (Salt Lake) in January 2020, recently went for valuations and is now a Rs. 325 crore (3250 million) company.
As Digitoonz CEO Vikas Kumar shared with AnimationXpress, “We are now a Rs. 325 crore company as per recent valuation made by finance and valuation expert, IndiaBiz, who took into consideration certain factors.”
Kumar revealed that the assessment was done on the basis of :
> Last three years financials and detailed report,
> Current order value in hand
> Future contracts / realistic projections
> Liabilities
> Net profit Margin (percentage)
> Bank Loan (which is almost nil)
> Net Fixed Assets as per book value
> Cash in Hand
> Number of Branches
> List of Creditors
> List of Debtors
> List of Clients
> Number of branches (Delhi, Kolkata and USA)
> Share in the projects (Co-production share)
The animation production company that specialises in 2D and 3D animation for TV and feature films, is currently working on projects of US based companies. “We are working on our US partnership project right now in three different domains and will share more information as soon as we are ready for the official announcement,” said Kumar.
Digitoonz has also been pushing themselves to enhance their CGI and VFX production capabilities. Amid the pandemic, the animation, VFX artists and other employees of the studio worked remotely on renowned projects (whose names couldn’t be disclosed for contractual purposes) and an upcoming animated film.
Speaking about the working from home experience, he added, “It was a difficult phase initially to plan the entire ‘work from home’ infrastructure but our cooperative and tech-savvy team helped us throughout. Prior to lockdown, the planning and working process was different, but post COVID, we managed and kept going. There was a major effect on the productivity side for various reasons, but we had constant support from our clients.”
20 to 30 per cent of Digitoonz employees have resumed work from office and has a free choice to whether go to office or continue working from home. Kumar informed that the office promises is being sanitized weekly, wearing masks are mandatory for everyone, hand washing, temperature screenings are being done on a regular basis. The sitting placements are also put on a certain distance with sanitizers on each desk.
Kumar exclaimed, “Safety is our foremost priority right now, and we understand that in this unexpected situation every individual has their own fears to leave their houses. So we prefer to let our employees work from home until we are out of this pandemic. Our team is gradually adapting to the work from home culture and most of them have made all the required arrangements at their homes, and are willing to cooperate as much as they can.”
Despite low productivity due to lockdown, Kumar informed, that they haven’t laid off or furloughed anyone, neither have made any pay cuts. “We have managed not to deduct salaries of our employees and will continue to do so. We have been crediting salaries for our teams on time with no delays.”
Kumar further stated that the effect of this pandemic is going to be severe in the coming future on the animation and VFX community, and though the ongoing production is going to survive as the producers have already made investments, future productions might get delayed as there will be a sense of fear for uncertainty and timely execution in them. The producers would be choosing to reserve funds for any possible crisis. His only hope to get out of this crisis is the invention of a vaccine or a cure.
