7 May 2024
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
Frontier Developments
plc
Trading Update
Frontier Developments plc
(AIM: FDEV, 'Frontier', the 'Group' or the
'Company'), a leading
developer and publisher of videogames based in Cambridge, UK,
provides an update on trading for Frontier's financial year 2024
('FY24'), the 12 months to 31 May 2024.
Since the last trading update on 2 April 2024,
Frontier's portfolio has performed well, with pleasing
contributions from all games. CMS titles have performed
particularly well, in part due to a strong Frontier publisher sale
on leading PC channel Steam from 1 to 15 April. On consoles,
Planet Zoo: Console
Edition continued to sell well during April following its
successful release in March.
Following these strong performances across the
whole portfolio in April, the Board currently project revenue for
FY24 of at least £85 million.
Frontier's financial performance for FY24 as
measured by Adjusted EBITDA* is now anticipated to be better than
previously guided, based on a higher gross margin percentage from a
greater proportion of own-IP revenue, lower operating costs
following the completion of the Organisational Review, and the gain
from the sale of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing
rights to Atari as announced on 2 April 2024. Based on revenue of
at least £85 million, the Board anticipates an Adjusted EBITDA*
loss for FY24 of £5 million or better. Under IFRS accounting
standards, the sale of publishing rights to Atari is treated as
'other operating income' rather than 'revenue', but it does
contribute to Adjusted EBITDA.
The Board expects to provide a further update
on the outturn for the financial year in June 2024.
*Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges
related to game developments and game technology, less investments
in game developments and game technology, and excluding
restructuring costs, share-based payment charges and other non-cash
items.
Jonny Watts, Chief Executive Officer,
said:
"I am pleased
to announce that our expectations for our financial performance in
the current financial year have improved following the excellent
reception to Planet Zoo's arrival on console and a good ongoing
performance from our other CMS titles. We are making strong
progress following the reset of our strategy during 2023 and I'd
like to thank our people for their support during a difficult
period in Frontier's thirty year history. We look to the future
with renewed confidence."
The information contained within this
announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU)
No. 596/2014 as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019. The person responsible for making this
announcement on behalf of the Company is Alex Bevis.
Enquiries:
Frontier Developments +44 (0)1223 394 300
Jonny Watts, CEO
Alex Bevis, CFO
Peel Hunt -
Nomad and Corporate Broker +44
(0)20 3100 2000
Neil Patel / Paul Gillam / Kate
Bannatyne
Liberum -
Joint Corporate Broker +44 (0)20
3100 2000
Max Jones / Nikhil Varghese
Teneo
+44 (0)20 7353 4200
Matt Low / Arthur
Rogers
About Frontier Developments
plc
Frontier is a leading independent
developer and publisher of videogames founded in 1994 by David
Braben, co-author of the iconic Elite game. Frontier uses its
proprietary COBRA game development technology to create innovative
genre-leading games, primarily for personal computers and videogame
consoles.
Frontier's LEI number:
213800B9LGPWUAZ9GX18.
www.frontier.co.uk