Photographers

3.0

7.5

Hired against booked forward diary, not against ambition

Editors

1.5

4.5

Matched to shooting capacity at every step

Working days a year

232

232

After leave, public holidays and administration

Billable utilisation

58%

71%

Break-even is 39.9%; editing caps output above 69%

Shooting days possible

404

1 235

Photographers times working days times utilisation

Editing capacity in shoot-day terms

398

1 195

Editors times working days divided by the editing ratio

Billable days delivered

398

1 195

The lower of the two; editing binds in every year

Editing ratio

0.87

0.87

Blended; motion work carries 2.4 days per shooting day

Blended day rate

R20 946

R23 407

5.5% escalation less AI erosion weighted by line exposure

Net day-rate increase

2.8% a year

Against direct costs escalating at 6.0%

Catalogue share of days

4%

4%

Deliberately minimal; 85% AI exposure

Weighted AI exposure, day-weighted

21.8%

21.8%

Against 54.0% on a conventional studio mix

Weighted AI exposure, revenue-weighted

25.7%

25.7%

R7 185 528 of mature revenue at risk

Direct cost per billable day

R6 880

32.8% of the blended day rate; escalated at 6.0%

Contribution per billable day

R14 066

67.2% of the day rate

Permanent staff at maturity

16

Base payroll R6 624 000 plus 2.1% statutory contributions

Payroll

R6 763 104

69.2% of the cash fixed cost base

Studio lease

R745 920

420 m² at R148/m² a month

AI tooling and licences

R268 000

Aimed at the editing ratio, which is the binding constraint

Total cash fixed costs at maturity

R9 773 024

Escalated at 5.8%

Capital expenditure

R6 940 000

58.5% of the funding requirement

Working capital and pre-opening

R4 920 000

41.5% of the requirement

Total funding requirement

R11 860 000

Depreciation

R1 330 333 a year

Straight-line over four to ten years

Promoter and investor equity

R5 900 000

49.7% of the funding

Debt and asset finance

R5 960 000

Five years at 13.22%

Working capital facility

R3 600 000

Committed at drawdown; peaks at R2 954 905 drawn

Debtor days / work in progress / creditor days

58 / 12 / 28

Corporate and agency payment behaviour

Taxation

SBC rates below R20m turnover, then 27%

Section 20 limitation applied to the assessed loss

Exit multiple

4.5x Year 5 EBITDA

A creative services business whose assets can resign

Billable utilisation of 71% at maturity

From 58% in Year 1

A full year of measured billable days at a comparable studio, or the founder’s own trading history

Break-even is 39.9%. Eight points below plan costs R1 530 984 a year

The editing ratio of 0.87

Blended across the service mix

Measured post-production hours against shooting days, by service line

It binds output in every year. 15% worse costs R2 311 197

Blended day rate of R20 946

Escalating 2.8% a year net of AI erosion

Quotations and won briefs across all five lines, not a rate card

A 10% movement swings mature EBITDA by R5 617 680

The service mix and its exposure scores

21.8% day-weighted, 25.7% revenue-weighted

The reader’s own judgement; the scores are stated so they can be disputed

On a conventional mix, revenue at risk rises from R7.19m to R12.67m

Three retainer clients before opening

Assumed contracted

Signed retainer or framework agreements, not letters of intent

Year 1 utilisation of 58% is not achievable on ad hoc work

Debtor days of 58

Corporate and agency terms

Payment history from comparable corporate and agency clients

Working capital already reaches 16.3% of revenue and exceeds the facility

Exit at 4.5 times Year 5 EBITDA

R24 023 632 terminal value

Comparable transactions in creative services, and client tenure analysis

At three times the project returns 22.7%; the multiple is most of the return