Big changes at the top for one of London’s biggest post-production houses
Evolutions has announced that Simon Kanjee has left the company “as part of a planned exit”, with Jonathon Kemp taking over as CEO. The company says Kemp will “build on the progress already made” and “lead the next phase of investment, and further accelerate Evolutions growth.”
Kemp’s experience includes 10 years at Shed Media Group where he was CFO, and two years as head of finance at Capital Films.
Evolutions explains that Kemp has significant experience in rapidly growing businesses in the production arena, having floated Shed Media on the AIM Stock market and driven the growth of the company from an SME to a turnover of over £100m by organic growth and acquisitions. He subsequently oversaw the sale of Shed Media to Warner Bros.
More recently, Kemp led the sale of WAG Media.
Kemp addressed the management changes at Evolutions in a statement, which says: “As part of the recent management changes, Simon Kanjee will leave the business as part of a planned exit. Simon was always intending to leave the business following a period of stabilisation post-investment. Having led the investment and the post investment period Simon will be departing from Evolutions to explore new opportunities. Simon leaves with the best wishes and thanks from all of the management team for his work in building Evolutions from inception to a market leading post-production house and all of hard work in securing investment and the future of Evolutions.”
Simon Kanjee’s time at Evolutions
Simon Kanjee had been at the helm of Evolutions since 2004. He wasted no time leading a management buyout (MBO) that same year and kickstarting a period of growth through acquisitions.
Funded by venture capitalists, Evolutions acquired struggling post house Nats in 2006 – and with it the firm’s offices in Soho Square and Oxford House.
Two years later, Evolutions took over another failing post house, The Sanctuary, on Great Pulteney Street, gaining another large premises in the process.
In 2011, ending what had “turned out to be a nightmare”, Kanjee once again led an MBO, this time buying venture capitalist Albion Ventures’ 49% stake in the company.
Shortly after, the lease on Berner Street came to an end and Evolutions chose not to renew on Soho Square. “It was a lovely building, but very shabby and wasn’t fit for purpose,” said Kanjee.
Evolutions found a building on Soho’s Sheraton Street and turned the site into somewhere that was a world away from the aesthetic of old, with attractive furniture, a contemporary design and an attention to detail that had been lacking previously.
Evolutions’ next move in London, in 2015, was to open a similar-size building, with a bar and outside terrace, on Berwick Street. “The aesthetic principals are the same as with Sheraton Street and my one contribution to the architectural design was to say ‘We want a Peroni tap in the bar’,” said Kanjee.
The company now has its two London offices, as well as buildings in Bristol, where it took over post house Big Bang in 2016.
In 2021, Evolutions announced specialist SME investment firm, Enact, as a new major investor, to kick off a growth strategy. At the time Kanjee said: “This is an exciting new chapter for us, with the investment from Enact we are perfectly positioned to accelerate the growth of the business in this rapidly changing environment. The global pandemic has had a significant effect on the industry although we’ve quickly adapted by developing and delivering remote post-production solutions and workflows which have become essential for our clients.”
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