TIDMCDM

RNS Number : 2014D

Codemasters Group Holdings PLC

08 October 2018

8 October 2018

Codemasters Group Holdings Plc

("Codemasters" or the "Company")

Trading update

Codemasters (AIM: CDM), the video game developer and publisher specialising in high quality racing games, is pleased to provide the following trading update following the conclusion of its half year ended 30 September 2018.

The Company has generated revenue of GBP39.7 million for the six month period. Digital sales as a proportion of revenue continue to increase, representing 53% of total sales in the period, resulting in an improved gross margin of 88.5%. The Group had net cash as at 30 September of GBP17m.

As a result of the financial performance in the first half, the Board is confident that the results for the full year will be in line with its expectations.

Codemasters has a portfolio of racing games and generates sales through both new releases as well as through its existing catalogue of titles. These results include the launches in the period of ONRUSH (released on 5 June 2018) and the annual instalment of the F1 franchise, F1 2018 (released on 24 August 2018), as well as the Company's back catalogue of games.

ONRUSH, the Company's new, own IP game, received good critical reviews (metacritic rating of 74%), although it made a smaller revenue contribution than the other revenue streams in the period. Whilst the Company will continue to support the game with new content, micro transactions, price promotions and access via subscription services to build brand awareness for the future, ONRUSH is not expected to make a meaningful financial contribution in the second half of the financial year.

F1 2018 has been widely acclaimed (metacritic rating of 84%) and reached number one in the sales charts in 11 different countries. Sales of F1 2018 have been strong across all platforms and F1 2018 is expected to make a material revenue contribution in the second half of the Company's financial year, particularly via digital sales. The Company anticipates F1 2018 will benefit from the normal promotions around the Black Friday and Christmas periods, which have historically delivered strong sales for prior versions of the F1 game.

The performance of the Company's back catalogue has also been strong thanks to the accelerated growth of the digital business reflecting the longer life cycle of high quality products. The Company expects digital growth to continue with future releases.

In the second half of the financial year, the Company will launch F1 Mobile Racing, a free-to-play mobile game, which will be accessible to a wider audience and potentially provide new revenue streams for the future. This will be followed by the release of DiRT Rally 2.0, the sequel to the successful and award-winning DiRT Rally, on 26 February 2019.

The Company will publish its results for the six months ended 30 September 2018 on 13 November 2018.

 
 Enquiries 
 
 Codemasters Group Holdings Plc         Via Alma PR 
  Frank Sagnier, CEO 
  Rashid Varachia, CFO 
 Liberum (Nominated Adviser and sole 
  broker) 
  Neil Patel 
  Cameron Duncan 
  William Hall                          +44 (0) 20 3100 2000 
 Alma PR Limited                        +44 (0) 20 8004 4217 
  Josh Royston                           codemasters@almapr.co.uk 
  Rebecca Sanders-Hewett 
  Helena Bogle 
  Sam Modlin

ABOUT CODEMASTERS:

Codemasters (AIM:CDM) is an award winning British video game developer and publisher with over 30 years of heritage. The company specialises in high quality racing games including DiRT, GRID and the BAFTA award-winning official F1(R) series of videogames.

Codemasters' LEI number is: 213800NOITSDQVNP5W91

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END

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