FDEV Frontier Developments Plc

11 September 2024

Frontier Developments plc

FY24 FINANCIAL RESULTS - RESET AND BACK ON TRACK

Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV, 'Frontier', the 'Company', or the 'Group'), a leading developer and publisher of video games based in Cambridge, UK, publishes its full-year results for the 12 months ended 31 May 2024 ('FY24'). This announcement contains inside information.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

*Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.

**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.

FY24: RESET, REFOCUSED AND RESHAPED

·   Strategic reset in H1 FY24 to focus on our core strength in creative management simulation (CMS) games.

·   Organisational Review during H2 FY24 supported our strategic reset, reshaping our teams and reducing our annual operating costs by approximately 20%.

·   Strong CMS back catalogue performance in H2 delivered FY24 revenue ahead of expectations at £89.3 million (FY23: £104.6 million).

·   These factors delivered a return to profitability in H2 on an Adjusted EBITDA** basis, before the £4.9 million gain from the sale of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3) publishing rights.

·   Adjusted EBITDA** profit of £0.9 million for FY24, including the gain from the sale of the RCT3 publishing rights.

·   IFRS operating loss of £28.4 million (FY23: loss of £26.6 million) due to non-cash impairment charges for underperforming non-CMS games and restructuring costs.

·   The strong H2 trading performance, cost reductions, sale of the RCT3 publishing rights, and tax cash credits resulted in an increase in cash during H2 of over £12 million, to £29.5 million at 31 May 2024 (30 November 2023: £17.1 million; 31 May 2023: £28.3 million).

FY25 AND BEYOND: A STRONG PIPELINE

·   Encouraging start for FY25, through the ongoing performance of the CMS-led back catalogue.

·   F1® Manager 2024 released as planned on 23 July 2024.

·   Planet Coaster 2 was announced in July 2024 and the reaction and engagement from the Planet Coaster community and beyond has been encouraging ahead of its release in autumn 2024.

·   Development is on track for a third Jurassic World game coming in FY26, in collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences, alongside the promotional support of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment's all-new film, Jurassic World Rebirth, currently scheduled for release on 2 July 2025.

·   Another currently unannounced CMS game is in development for release in FY27.

·   The Board remains confident of delivering profit in FY25 as the next step to improved financial performance and sustainable growth.

Jonny Watts, CEO, said:

"As we enter our 30^th year in the industry, we have reset our portfolio strategy and are refocussed, pulling on our wealth of experience to deliver what we do best through our exciting CMS roadmap. This year has been a challenging period for Frontier, so I'd like to thank our incredible team for rising to the challenges following our strategic reset, and for their dedication and commitment to getting us into a stronger and more sustainable position.

I look forward to the release of our highly anticipated sequel, Planet Coaster 2, which brings a wave of all-new water park gameplay, innovative features and creative possibilities. Our loyal players and community should be braced and ready for a big splash this autumn as we build on our Planet Coaster franchise!"

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 Joint Corporate Broker          +44 (0)20 7418 8900

Neil Patel / Ben Cryer / Kate Bannatyne

Panmure Liberum - Joint Corporate Broker                  +44 (0)20 3100 2000

Max Jones / Matt Hogg / 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. Based in Cambridge, 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

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

The last twelve months have been one of the most difficult periods in Frontier's 30-year history. However, following our strategy reset and organisational reshaping, I'm pleased to report that the Board is confident that we are now in an excellent position to deliver improved financial performance and sustained growth.

During 2023, we refocused our strategy towards our core strengths and expertise in creative management simulation (CMS) games. This followed past plans to diversify Frontier's portfolio, which did not deliver the expected revenues and financial returns.

During the second half of the financial year, we undertook an Organisational Review to reshape Frontier to enable us to deliver more efficiently on our project plans and to reduce annual operating costs by 20%. This was tough for everyone in the Company, as we reduced our team size to just over 700 employees through a hiring freeze and a redundancy process.

We would like to thank all of our employees for their commitment and dedication during this period.

The results of the Organisational Review have been immediate and the evidence of our financial and commercial turnaround in the second half of the year is encouraging. Now, with Frontier's strongest-ever lineup of CMS games set to launch over the next three years supported by a rich plan of post-launch content, the Board is confident that we are in a strong place to deliver for all of our stakeholders.  This is a testament to the talent and dedication of our people, to the strength of our IP and to our long-term partnerships, as well as to the millions of players around the world who continue to love and support our games.

Our exciting future release schedule includes: Planet Coaster 2 coming in autumn 2024 (FY25); a third Jurassic World game in FY26; and an as-yet unannounced new CMS game in FY27.

Stepping up as Chairman this year, I am delighted to be working with a collaborative and engaged Board, with each member bringing a different perspective and expertise to our work. We take our responsibilities as Directors seriously, devoting appropriate time to governance matters including environmental, social and governance topics, risk assessment and stakeholder engagement and management.

Finally, I'd like to thank all our stakeholders again - from our exceptionally talented, creative and resilient teams, to our commercial partners, our shareholders and, of course, our passionate players - for your continuing support.  

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S STATEMENT

In the two years since I stepped up to the role of CEO, we have released multiple games, delivered engaging new content for our established franchises and kicked-off a number of exciting new game developments. During that period, player engagement with our CMS games has delivered the strongest revenue performances, as our CMS games and additional content continue to resonate and connect with both new and existing players. However, our non-CMS game launches in the period did not deliver the financial returns we had expected.

As a result, during 2023 we undertook a strategic reset, focusing on our proven success and experience in CMS games. This was underpinned by an Organisational Review that we announced in October 2023 and completed in March 2024.

FY24, being the 12 months ended 31 May 2024, was very much a year of two halves. The first half presented disappointing financial performance from underperforming non-CMS game releases and the subsequent start of the Organisational Review. The second half brought strong CMS performances, including the release of Planet Zoo: Console Edition, and excellent collaboration across the whole of Frontier, which have put us back in a strong position for the future.

I'd like to highlight the hard work and support of our talented team of people during the last 12 months. They rose admirably to the challenges created by our strategic pivot and Organisational Review.

FIRST HALF OF FY24

Following the end of FY23 and our decision to close Frontier Foundry, the first half of FY24 presented further challenges. July 2023 saw the launch of our second F1® Manager game, F1® Manager 2023, which achieved sales below our expectations and those of its predecessor, F1® Manager 2022. In November 2023, we released Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin following its showing at gamescom in August 2023, however, it did not resonate with enough players and we missed our sales targets.

Having already determined our strategic pivot to CMS games ahead of the full release of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, in October 2023 we confirmed the difficult but necessary decision to undertake an Organisational Review to reshape our teams and reduce operational costs. The resulting tough period of change included a number of redundancies across multiple teams, which was understandably painful for our people.

SECOND HALF OF FY24

It's been encouraging to see the strength of our established game portfolio, notably our CMS games, with Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution, and Jurassic World Evolution 2 all delivering pleasing material revenue contributions. Planet Zoo benefitted from four new paid downloadable content (PDLC) packs on PC across the financial year, and I was delighted with its launch onto PlayStation and Xbox with Planet Zoo: Console Edition, released in March 2024. Jurassic World Evolution 2 players also had the opportunity to engage with four new PDLC packs during FY24. With these two established games, Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Planet Zoo, ranking first and second in FY24 by revenue contribution, it is clear that the CMS genre remains an area of strength for us.

Our publishing relationships are stronger than ever and we have seen particularly strong outcomes from promotional activity on Steam, the world's largest distributor of PC games. Frontier participates in various seasonal, publisher-specific, genre-specific and game-specific Steam promotions throughout the year. Notably, Planet Coaster helped deliver a strong finish to the financial year, with a special Steam-requested 95% promotion event, 'Mega Sale', which saw over one million new players purchasing the game in May 2024, increasing our customer base and creating an uptick in paid content purchased after the end of the discount period. This further validation of the potential audience for Planet Coaster 2 is encouraging ahead of its forthcoming release.

In H2 FY24, I was also pleased that our teams expanded the audience for Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters with its release on consoles in February 2024. Our Elite Dangerous players have also seen a number of exciting developments, including the introduction of purchasable new ships and the next phase of the ongoing Thargoid War.

FY25 TRADING

We have seen a good start to the new financial year. This has been headed by the ongoing strength of the CMS-led back catalogue, with Planet Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution 2 again the star performers.

Outside of the CMS genre, we were pleased to release F1® Manager 2024, our third iteration in the F1® Manager Franchise, in July 2024. Our team continues to develop and expand the experiences for Elite Dangerous players as we head towards our tenth anniversary at the end of 2024.

THE FUTURE

The strong historical and ongoing performances of our CMS games give me great confidence in our refocused portfolio strategy. It provides a solid foundation, shaped by the successes, challenges and learnings of our 30-year history.

We are committed to developing games which not only align to our existing strengths and players' expectations for a Frontier CMS game, but that also have strong potential to deliver the level of financial return that our previous CMS games achieved. We are focused on player experience, quality and innovation while keeping a close eye on our costs, and I am pleased with the progress we are making.

We now have what I believe is Frontier's strongest-ever roadmap, with three self-published CMS games planned for the next three consecutive financial years, underpinning our realigned focus. These are backed by the expertise of our talented teams, who have delivered repeated successes in this genre. We will draw on this previous development and publishing experience, as well as our core audience understanding, to deliver our roadmap.

Planet Coaster 2 launches in autumn 2024 (FY25) and our third Jurassic World game is coming in FY26, alongside the promotional support of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment's all-new film, Jurassic World Rebirth, currently scheduled for release on 2 July 2025. Our third, unannounced CMS game is in development and scheduled for FY27, and I look forward to unveiling our plans closer to its launch.

In the near term, I am very much looking forward to the launch of Planet Coaster 2. To date, we have executed a successful marketing campaign which has increased the addressable audience by introducing over one million new players to the original game and it will benefit from launching across all platforms simultaneously. The game is designed to be recognisable to existing players, while adding exciting new key gameplay and technical features they have asked for, including unparalleled customisation, water park attractions and the 'Frontier Workshop' which will allow creators to share their blueprints, enabling even deeper community engagement.

We will continue to apply the proven success of our business model to nurture our existing portfolio of games, including by releasing PDLCs, as we further engage our audiences and help maximise the returns from our valuable and established back catalogue.

We have started taking positive steps to build back trust from our employees. This will take time, but I am confident that we can achieve this by delivering against our updated plans and by further enhancing our employee experience. We are now in a stronger and more sustainable position, having reshaped Frontier for a better future.

I'd like to thank our people for their ongoing dedication and support, our players for their community spirit, and our shareholders for their commitment and investment in Frontier. I look forward to providing further updates on the progress against our updated strategy in the future.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER'S STATEMENT

FY24 was a financially challenging year, characterised by underperforming game launches in H1 that were partly offset by a strong back catalogue performance and substantial cost reductions through the H2 Organisational Review.

Having taken decisive strategic and operational actions during the year, we are now in a strong position to deliver improved financial performance and sustainable growth through our strategic reset to focus on CMS games, our reduced cost base and our talented teams.

REVENUE AND GROSS PROFIT

Solid performances from the established portfolio, particularly our genre-leading CMS games, helped to deliver total revenue in FY24 of £89.3 million (FY23: £104.6 million). The reduction from the prior year resulted from lower-than-expected contributions from the two new games released in the year, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin and F1® Manager 2023. Among the established portfolio, the strongest performers were Planet Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution 2, with both games benefitting from multiple PDLC packs, and Planet Zoo receiving a further boost from the successful launch of Planet Zoo: Console Edition in March 2024. As a result, the proportion of Group revenue generated by CMS titles grew to 62% in FY24 (FY23: 58%), which included the ongoing contributions from Planet Coaster, which achieved a 96% annual revenue sustain rate, and Jurassic World Evolution.

Gross profit, being revenue less distribution costs, IP royalties and other cost of sales, decreased to £61.3 million in FY24 (FY23: £67.3 million) due to the year-on-year reduction in revenue, which was partially offset by a strong gross profit margin performance of 69% (FY23: 64%). The significant increase in the gross profit margin percentage in FY24 versus FY23 was due to a higher proportion of revenue being derived from own-IP games which do not carry IP royalties and from subscription deals which do not attract distribution commission.

OPERATING COSTS

Adjusted operating costs, excluding the impact of non-cash accounting adjustments and restructuring costs, were reduced by 9% from £71.9 million in FY23 to £65.3 million in FY24. The year-on-year decrease was due to the cost reductions undertaken through the Organisational Review in the second half of the financial year and the closure of Frontier Foundry in June 2023. Overall, costs were reduced by 28% in H2 FY24 versus H1 FY24, with expenditure of £37.9 million in H1 falling to £27.4 million in H2.  

Adjusted research and development (R&D) costs fell by 12% in FY24 to £45.0 million (FY23: £51.1 million). The reduction mainly resulted from substantially lower external development funding following the closure of the Frontier Foundry games label in June 2023. Frontier Foundry game funding was reduced from £6.4 million in FY23 to £1.6 million in FY24, with the remaining project milestones being completed during H1 FY24. R&D people-related costs increased year-on-year by £2.3 million (6%), despite the H2 cost reductions, due to continued recruitment up to the commencement of the Organisational Review in October 2023 and the impact of the August 2023 pay review. R&D people-related costs subsequently fell by 13% from H1 FY24 to H2 FY24 through the Organisational Review. Other R&D costs, including technology, licensing and outsource, were reduced by £3.6 million in FY24 compared with FY23, in part through the actions taken to reduce costs during the Organisational Review.

Adjusted sales, marketing, and administrative costs fell by 3% to £20.3 million in FY24 (FY23: £20.9 million) with only modest year-on-year reductions for both sales and marketing costs (3%) and administrative costs (2%). For the full year of FY24, the impact of H2 cost reductions was outweighed by the impact of a greater level of spending in H1 on the launch of two new games before the commencement of the Organisational Review in October 2023. Sales and marketing costs were heavily weighted towards H1 (72% of the costs for the full year), since both new games that launched in the year were released in H1. Cost reductions in marketing in H2 also contributed to the H1 weighting. The Organisational Review also resulted in a 23% reduction in administrative costs from H1 to H2.

IFRS ADJUSTING ITEMS

Whereas adjusted operating costs reduced year-on-year by 9%, total operating expenditure in FY24, as recorded under IFRS, fell only slightly compared with the prior year, dropping to £93.2 million (FY23: £93.9 million). The difference is due to movements in the three most significant non-cash accounting elements, all of which relate to intangible assets: capitalisation, amortisation and impairments.

Costs related to the development of new chargeable content, or the development of technology to support new content, are typically capitalised in accordance with the requirements of accounting standard IAS 38 Intangible Assets, subject to those costs meeting the criteria defined by the standard. Conversely, development costs associated with the development or support of existing products are generally expensed as incurred.

In FY24, the total cost capitalised fell substantially compared with the previous year, with £26.5 million capitalised in FY24 (59% of adjusted R&D expenditure) versus £37.6 million in FY23 (74% of adjusted R&D expenditure). The reduction in the proportion of expenditure capitalised was due to the strategic reset to refocus on CMS games and the resulting adjustment in staff allocations across projects, combined with the impact of closing Foundry.

As noted in the 2023 Annual Report and Accounts, steeper amortisation charge profiles were adopted for new game and PDLC releases compared with the previous default method of straight-line amortisation following a FY23 review of our approach to intangible asset identification and amortisation. This updated approach therefore brings forward non-cash amortisation charges compared with the previous method. As a result of this change, amortisation charges in both FY23 and FY24 were relatively high versus previous years at £34.5 million and £31.0 million respectively (FY22: £26.5 million; FY21: £14.9 million). The FY24 charge included £5.0 million of amortisation charges for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin recorded in its month of release, November 2023. A further non-cash intangible asset impairment was recorded for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin due to its lower-than-expected launch performance, which resulted in a total impairment charge of £16.9 million in FY24. In FY23, total impairment charges of £18.1 million were recorded against some of the games published under the Frontier Foundry games label and in respect to the F1® Manager Franchise. Amortisation charges in future financial years are expected to be lower as a result of these one-off impairment charges.

The restructuring charge from the Organisational Review in FY24 totalled £1.4 million (there was no charge in FY23), with redundancy costs making up the majority of the cost.

SALE OF ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON 3 PUBLISHING RIGHTS

The publishing rights for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3), a game developed by Frontier and released in 2004, returned to Frontier in 2018 under the original development agreement. Since then, Frontier has been publishing the game on PC, Mac, iOS and Nintendo Switch. On 15 March 2024, Frontier sold the publishing rights for RCT3 to Atari Inc (Atari) to enable Atari to become the sole publisher of all major titles within the RollerCoaster Tycoon Franchise. Total consideration for the sale of the publishing rights was agreed at US$7.0 million, comprising US$4.0 million of upfront cash and US$3.0 million of deferred cash consideration. A gain on sale of the publishing rights of £4.9 million, representing the upfront consideration received in the period and the discounted net present value of future consideration, has been recorded in other operating income in the consolidated income statement. No value had been attributed to the publishing agreement on the consolidated statement of financial position prior to the transfer.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Adjusted EBITDA*, which reflects cash profitability with game development costs expensed as they are incurred, was a profit of £0.9 million in FY24 (FY23: loss of £4.6 million), which was generated on £15.3 million lower revenue than in FY23. The £5.5 million year-on-year increase was achieved through the strong trading performance in the second half of FY24, annual operating costs being reduced by approximately 20% through the Organisational Review that completed in March 2024, and the £4.9 million gain on sale of RCT3 publishing rights in March 2024. H2 FY24 was profitable, excluding the gain from the sale of the RCT3 publishing rights.

*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.

Performance in FY24 as reported under IFRS was an operating loss of £28.4 million (FY23: £26.6 million). The losses in both years included the impact of impairment charges, which were higher in FY23, with FY24 seeing an adverse impact from a lower level of cost capitalisation and restructuring costs, but benefitting from lower amortisation charges.

TAX

The enhanced tax deductions on expenditures from tax credit schemes, together with tax adjustments for prior periods, generated a corporation tax credit of £7.0 million in the consolidated income statement in FY24 (FY23: £5.6 million).

We continue to benefit strongly from UK and Canadian tax incentive schemes, specifically Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR), R&D tax credits, Patent Box, the Manitoba Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit and the Canada SR&ED Program. We receive enhanced corporate tax deductions on certain expenditures under these tax credit schemes, which help to reduce taxable profits.

LOSS AFTER TAX AND EARNINGS PER SHARE

Loss after tax for FY24 was £21.5 million (FY23: £20.9 million) and the basic loss per share was 55.6p (FY23: 53.6p).

CASH POSITION AND CASHFLOW

We remain well capitalised, with £29.5 million of cash at 31 May 2024 (31 May 2023: £28.3 million) and £28.5 million at 31 August 2024. Frontier has no debt. The increase in cash during FY24 reflected a strong trading performance in the second half of FY24, cost reductions from the Organisational Review, the sale of RCT3 publishing rights and receipt of tax credits of £9.2 million covering two years' worth of tax returns (FY22 and FY23).

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

FY24 saw some significant changes in Frontier's consolidated statement of financial position, with net assets decreasing by £19.1 million overall, including through a £21.3 million reduction in intangible assets which resulted from impairment charges of £16.9 million for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin and amortisation charges of £31.0 million exceeding costs capitalised (intangible asset additions) of £26.5 million.

Intangible assets include game developments, game technology, third-party software and IP licences, and the overall asset value reduced to £35.7 million at 31 May 2024 (31 May 2023: £57.0 million).

Other non-tax assets at 31 May 2024 included £7.0 million of goodwill related to the acquisition of Complex Games Inc. in November 2022 (31 May 2023: £7.2 million), property, plant, and equipment of £4.7 million (31 May 2023: £5.7 million), right-of-use assets totalling £19.7 million (31 May 2023: £17.9 million) and trade and other receivables of £13.6 million (31 May 2023: £15.6 million).

Right-of-use assets relate to the lease of our headquarters in Cambridge and a small studio occupied by our Complex Games team in Winnipeg, Canada. A similar figure (the difference related to timing of actual rental payments) of £21.3 million at 31 May 2024 (31 May 2023: £19.3 million) is reported in lease liabilities and is split between current and non-current liabilities.

The majority of the value of trade and other receivables relates to gross revenue due from digital distribution partners. The year-on-year £2.0 million decrease primarily relates to a receivable recognised in May 2023 in respect to Jurassic World Evolution 2 entering PlayStation Plus subscription service and cash being received in June 2023, as well as lower prepayments and other debtors as a result of cost reductions undertaken during the year.

Total liabilities of £40.6 million at 31 May 2024 (31 May 2023: £45.0 million) reduced by £4.4 million during FY24, with the significant movement relating to the net effect of a reduction in trade and other payables of £6.6 million and an increase in lease liabilities of £2.0 million following an increase in the underlying rent of the two studios during the year. The decrease in trade and other payables resulted from the cost reductions undertaken during H2, from the lower revenue related accruals and through the final payment of the deferred consideration in respect to the acquisition of Complex Games Inc.

The current tax asset balance at 31 May 2024 of £7.2 million relates to the FY24 draft tax returns, including VGTR claims, with receipt expected during FY25. The balance at 31 May 2023 of £9.4 million related to two years' worth of tax returns (FY22 and FY23), with the cash receipts for these returns both being received during FY24.

Our tax arrangements concerning income streams under VGTR and Patent Box enhancements can be complex, and at 31 May 2024 there was insufficient certainty concerning the utilisation of other tax losses to create any other deferred tax assets related to accumulated losses. Our total unrecognised tax losses as at 31 May 2024 were £109.5 million (31 May 2023: £80.2 million).

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form part of this financial information.

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form part of this financial information.

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form part of this financial information.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION

1.    CORPORATE INFORMATION                                                                                                                                 

Frontier Developments plc (the 'Group' or the 'Company') develops and publishes video games for the interactive entertainment sector. The Company is a public limited company and is incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom.

The address of its registered office is 26 Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0FP.

The Group's operations are based and headquartered in the UK, with subsidiaries based in Canada and the US.

2.     BASIS OF PREPARATION AND STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE

The financial information contained in this preliminary announcement of audited results does not constitute the Group's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 May 2024 and 31 May 2023. The accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 May 2024 have been reported on by the Company's auditors. The report on these accounts was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain any statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006 or equivalent preceding legislation.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 May 2024 are expected to be posted to shareholders in due course and will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies after they have been laid before the shareholders in a general meeting on 30 October 2024. Copies will be available from the registered office of the Company, 26 Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0FP and will be accessible on the Frontier Developments website, https://www.frontier.co.uk. The registered number of Frontier Developments plc is 02892559.

The basis of preparation and going concern policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the periods presented, unless otherwise stated.

Basis of preparation

The consolidated financial statements of the Group have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IASs) in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and in accordance with UK-adopted IASs. The financial information has been prepared on the basis of all applicable IFRSs, including all IASs, Standing Interpretations Committee (SIC) interpretations and International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) interpretations issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) that are applicable to the financial period.

The financial information has been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, except for financial instruments held at fair value. The financial information is presented in Sterling, the presentation and functional currency for the Group and Company. All values are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds (£'000) except when otherwise indicated.

Going concern basis

The Group and Company's forecasts and projections, taking account of current cash resources and reasonably possible changes in trading performance, support the conclusion that there is a reasonable expectation that the Group and Company have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the period to 30 September 2025. The Group and Company therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing their financial statements.

The Group's day-to-day working capital requirements are expected to be met through the cash and cash equivalent resources (including treasury deposits) at the balance sheet date of 31 May 2024 of £29.5 million along with expected cash inflows from current business activities. Cash and cash equivalent resources (including treasury deposits) at 31 August 2024 were £28.5 million. The Annual Budget approved by the Board of Directors, which has been used to assess going concern, reflects assessments of current and future market conditions and the impact this may have on cash resources.

The Group has also performed stress testing on the Annual Budget in respect of potential downside scenarios to identify the break point of current cash resources and to identify when current liquidity resources may fall short of requirements.

The scenarios both consider a reduction in predicted revenues; however, the reduction would need to be severe in order to prevent the Group from continuing as a going concern and is considered to be highly unlikely to occur. The Group has also identified mitigating actions that could be reasonably taken, if required, to offset the reduction of cash inflows, to enable it to continue its operations for the period to 30 September 2025. Consideration has also been made over the impairment charges (as disclosed in note 6); however, given these are accounting charges as opposed to cash outflows, these do not materially change the forecasts for going concern purposes. The forecasts reflect the latest expectation of revenues across all key titles, including those which were subject to impairment in FY24.

The sensitivities included in the stress testing include a significant reduction of revenue for the Group from both the existing portfolio and future game launches, including factoring in delays to major game launches.

As expected, the scenarios resulted in an accelerated use of current cash resources; however, in all scenarios tested the current cash resources were sufficient to support the Group's activities. This is due to a variety of factors:

·    the Group currently has significant cash reserves to maintain the current level of operations;

·    the development and publishing of titles has progressed as expected; and

·    should a more extreme downside scenario occur, the Group could take further mitigating actions by reducing discretionary spend.

Having considered all the above, including the current strong cash position, no current impact on debtor recoverability and the continued strong trading performance for the Group, the Directors are satisfied that there are sufficient resources to continue operations for the period to 30 September 2025. The financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 are therefore prepared under the going concern basis.

3.      SEGMENT INFORMATION                           

The Group identifies operating segments based on internal management reporting that is regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker and reported to the Board. The chief operating decision maker is the Chief Executive Officer.                                                                                                                                                         

Management information is reported as one operating segment, being revenue from publishing games and revenue from other streams such as royalties and licencing.

The Group does not provide any information on the geographical location of sales as the majority of revenue is through third-party distribution platforms which are responsible for the sales data of consumers. The cost to develop this information internally would be excessive.

The majority of the Group's non-current assets are held within the UK.

All material revenue is categorised as either publishing revenue or other revenue.             

The Group typically satisfies its performance obligations at the point that the product becomes available to the customer and payment is received upfront by the distributors.                                                                          

Other revenue mainly related to royalty income in both years.

4.      TAXATION ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES                    

The major components of the income tax credit are:

Reconciliation of total tax credit at statutory tax rates:

In the Spring Budget 2021, the Government announced that from 1 April 2023 the corporation tax rate increased to 25%. On 31 May 2024, tax on profit on ordinary activities was therefore being measured at the rate of 25% and the deferred taxes have been measured using the tax rate at the date that the deferred tax asset or liability unwinds of 25% (31 May 2023: 20-25%).

For FY24, the Group has recorded a total corporation tax credit of £7.0 million (FY23: £5.6 million). The Group benefits from the enhanced tax deductions available from the Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) scheme. The Group did not benefit from the Patent Box relief in FY24 as the Group did not generate sufficient profit from patented income. In FY23, the Group benefitted from the Patent Box relief that reduced the taxable profit for Jurassic World Evolution 2.

The Group recognised a prior year adjustment of £900k during FY24 due to additional core expenditure in the F1® Manager Franchise VGTR claim. During FY23, the Group recognised a prior year adjustment of £77k due to additional core expenditure in the Elite Dangerous VGTR claim and brought forward balances on Complex Games Inc.

Effective from 1 April 2023, the corporation tax rate of 25% is aligned with the VGTR tax credit and therefore is no tax rate benefit on surrender of losses for the VGTR tax credit. The tax rate benefit on surrender of tax losses of £972k during FY23 is the additional 5% tax benefit received in respect of surrendering the current year losses for the VGTR tax credit at 25% for the following trades: Elite Dangerous, F1® Manager Franchise, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, and Planet Coaster 2.

The Group benefits from VGTR and can claim an additional (enhanced) deduction from its taxable profit relating to the video game trades. In FY24, the additional deduction in respect of VGTR was £7.3 million, being £29.2 million of qualifying expenditure at a tax rate of 25% (FY23: £5.0 million being £24.1 million of qualifying expenditure at a tax rate of 20%). The £2.3 million year on year increase in the enhanced deduction was due to the increase in core development expenditure in respect of video games that are subject to VGTR.

During FY24, deferred tax not recognised of £8.3 million comprises the tax effected saving on the employee share scheme deduction of £1.3 million, a temporary difference arising on the deferred income in respect of the Research and Development Expenditure (RDEC) grant of £0.1 million and unrecognised tax losses movement of £6.9 million.

The unrecognised deferred tax asset in respect of tax losses of £6.9 million is the additional £27.5 million of tax losses in the year, at a tax rate of 25%. The additional tax losses are in respect of £23.4 million of current year losses, plus £4.1 million of losses that have been derecognised in FY24 to bring the deferred tax asset to £nil due to the unlikelihood of the Group having taxable profits in the foreseeable future to utilise the additional losses.

The losses do not have an expiry date.

5.  EARNINGS/(LOSS) PER SHARE

The calculation of the basic earnings/(loss) per share is based on the profits/(losses) attributable to the shareholders of Frontier Developments plc divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year.

The calculation of the diluted earnings/(loss) per share is based on the profits/(losses) attributable to the shareholders of Frontier Developments plc divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year as adjusted for the dilutive effect of share options.

The reconciliation of the average number of Ordinary Shares used for basic and diluted earnings/(loss) per share is as follows:

For the 12 months to 31 May 2024, there are 1,293,134 options that have not been included in the table above as they would be anti-dilutive, however could potentially dilute basic earnings per share in future years.

6.  OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

The Group's other intangible assets comprise game technology, game developments, third-party software and IP licences. Game technology includes Frontier's COBRA game engine and other technology which supports the development and publication of games. The game developments category includes capitalised development costs for base game and PDLC assets for both internally developed games and games developed by partners within the Frontier Foundry third-party publishing games label. Third-party software includes subscriptions to development and business software. Intangible assets for IP licences are recognised at the execution of the licence, based on the minimum guarantees payable by Frontier to the IP owner.

Amortisation charges for other intangible assets that relate to game technology, game developments and third-party software are expensed within research and development expenses. Amortisation charges for IP licences are typically charged to cost of sales, which reflects the IP licence royalties which the minimum guarantees relate to.

The recoverable amount of each of the assets at 31 May 2024 is determined from the value in use. The key assumption in calculating the value in use was the expected future cashflows. A five-year bottom up forecast for FY25 to FY29 inclusive has been created as a basis of the expected future cashflows, with a pre-tax discount rate of 10% (31 May 2023: 10%) being applied to the future cashflows. The Directors have assessed the sensitivity of the impairment test to incorporate reasonable possible changes in the key assumptions and noted that no material impairment exists in any cases. Climate change is not expected to have a material impact on future cashflows. The Group recognised an impairment charge of £16.9 million in FY24 in respect of intangible assets relating to Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin as a result of the impairment tests at 31 May 2024.

Accumulated cost and amortisation of £490k has been disposed of in respect to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 intangible assets included within game developments as a result of the sale of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights on 15 March 2024.

After 31 May 2024 and before the signing of the accounts on 10 September 2024, commercial discussions with an IP partner resulted in the voluntary termination of a contract for a future game before full development started. This resulted in the derecognition of £1.92 million of other intangible assets and £1.96 million of non-current liabilities related to minimum guarantees. The resulting net gain of approximately £40k will be credited to the FY25 consolidated income statement.

7.  KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS - NON-STATUTORY MEASURES

In addition to measures of financial performance derived from IFRS-reported results - revenue, operating profit, operating profit margin percentage, earnings per share, and cash balance - we have published and provided commentary on our financial performance measurements, derived from non-statutory calculations. We believe these supplementary measures, when read in conjunction with the measures derived directly from statutory financial reporting, provide a better understanding of our overall financial performance.

EBITDA

EBITDA, being earnings before tax, interest, depreciation, and amortisation, is commonly used by investors when assessing the financial performance of companies. It attempts to arrive at a 'cash profit' figure by adjusting operating profit for non-cash depreciation and amortisation charges. In our case, EBITDA does not provide a clear picture of our cash profitability, as it adds back amortisation charges relating to game developments, but without deducting the investment costs for those developments, resulting in a profit measure which does not take into account any of the costs associated with developing games. Since EBITDA is a commonly used financial performance measure, it has been included below for the benefit of readers of the accounts who may value that measure of performance.

Adjusted EBITDA

Our Adjusted EBITDA measure, in our view, provides a better representation of 'cash profit' than EBITDA. We define Adjusted EBITDA as 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. This effectively provides the cash profit figure that would have been achieved if we expensed all game development investment as it was incurred, rather than capitalising those costs and amortising them over several years.