Media group ZOO Digital may have moved closer to profitability in its latest financial year, but behind the improved numbers lies a chorus of frustration from freelancers.
Many in the translation industry who have worked for the listed company have claimed that they have been left unpaid for work completed, with one even involving a lawyer.聽
The Sheffield-headquartered localisation and digital services firm recently reported a 22% uplift in annual revenue to $49.6m and a swing to positive adjusted EBITDA of $1.1m.聽
CEO Stuart Green (pictured) said the business had shown 鈥榬esilience鈥� and was on track to deliver operating profit in FY26.
However, multiple translators and linguists working for ZOO Digital have claimed they have had to repeatedly chase invoices, with some considering legal action after months of silence.
An experienced freelancer, who asked to remain anonymous, told 老九品茶Cloud that they had worked with ZOO Digital for 鈥榤any years鈥� and started to notice changes in 2024.聽
They said: 鈥淟ast year I noticed a delay in payment that was longer than usual. I wrote to them many times about it, they apologised, but the payment only arrived after I posted a review on ProZ (which I later deleted).
鈥淚 assumed it was an isolated incident and continued the collaboration. This year, however, unpaid invoices started to accumulate again, so I reminded them repeatedly, but also communicated that I could no longer work with them as they owed me too much money and had become unreliable. At that point they paid half the amount they owed me.鈥�
The freelancer said they ultimately involved a lawyer and that the remainder of the payment arrived shortly afterwards.聽
鈥淚t was quite fast, about a week or less,” they continued. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 involved in the details of the lawyer鈥檚 approach, but I know that no lawsuit was filed – only an email was sent to warn them about possible legal action, as I thought they would take me more seriously if I involved a lawyer.
鈥淢y advice would be: don鈥檛 give up. It鈥檚 your hard-earned money and consider all available options, including legal advice, to secure payment.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard enough being a freelancer, let alone to have worked for months on projects that were never paid.鈥�
Another translator, Edmee Sierts, said her relationship with the firm dated back to 2017 and had once been smooth, but had deteriorated sharply.聽
鈥淭here are plenty of others on LinkedIn who have simply not been paid for their work, who have to chase down each and every invoice, sometimes for weeks or months on end, often fruitlessly,鈥� she explained.聽
She then stated that ZOO Digital currently owes her 鈥榦ver $2,000鈥�.
鈥淭he excuse is always the same: your invoices have been flagged to finance, there’s nothing else we can do,鈥� she added.
鈥淭here has been no communication from management about the delays or when they’re supposed to be resolved.
鈥淚 hope they’ll stop taking us for granted.鈥�
Translator Daniel Sikos criticised the company publicly on LinkedIn, writing: 鈥淎fter many occasions of having to ask and beg for my money, the moment of public (de)recognition has come for ZOO Digital!鈥�
Sikos said that he is owed $208.75 from overdue invoices.聽
In a post addressing several senior leaders by name, including Green, he wrote: 鈥淲hen will you finally pay鈥� and when will you also pay out every freelancer you are exploiting, as well, by defaulting on settling their overdue invoices?聽
鈥淟et’s cut the bullsh*t, let’s stop making up excuses!鈥�
The AIM-listed company reported cost reductions of $8.4m across the year and said it had ended the period with $2.7m in cash and no drawdown against its invoice finance facility.聽
In addition, its share price has climbed nearly 50% since the appointment of a new CFO in May.
However, some freelancers question whether this financial discipline is coming at their expense.聽
Sierts said: 鈥淎ny communication on how the company is doing is only to news outlets, where they refer to 鈥榲arious cost-cutting measures鈥� being in place.鈥�
The anonymous source added: 鈥淭hey only apologised and said they were working on resolving the issue, which was a very generic message.鈥�
While the company鈥檚 public messaging remains optimistic, with Green stating ZOO was 鈥渂etter positioned to navigate this environment”, translators online have warned each other to be cautious.
Asked if they would recommend working with the firm again, one freelancer said: 鈥淏e cautious and perhaps give it some time to see if they recover financially.聽
鈥淎t the moment, I would not recommend accepting projects. As for me, I would only consider working with them again if I knew they had settled all outstanding payments to freelancers, and if there was a clear guarantee that payment would never be an issue again.聽
鈥淚 am very sad my collaboration with them had to end this way, as I truly enjoyed their projects and the overall working relationship.鈥�
ZOO Digital has been approached for comment regarding the allegations.
鈥� Anyone wishing to shed further light on this story can contact the editor at jonathan.symcox@businesscloud.co.uk.
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