Video game developer Frontier achieves results that exceed expectations
- Frontier said sales for the year ending in May totaled around £89m
- The Cambridge-based company plans to launch F1 Manager 2024 soon
Frontier Developments posted better-than-expected full-year results after a solid second-half performance.
The Elite Dangerous maker said high demand for its back catalog games and Planet Zoo: Console Edition pushed sales to around £89m in the 12 months ending in May.
Although turnover was down on the £104m it made the year before, the Cambridge-based group had achieved a target of making at least £85m.
Eating shoots: Frontier said strong demand for its back catalog games and Planet Zoo: Console Edition helped sales total around £89m for the 12 months ending May
The company also predicts an adjusted profit loss of ‘£5 million or more’, but the company now expects to post a provisional profit of around £500,000.
This figure included profits from the sale of the publishing rights for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to Atari for $7 million in March, which raised much-needed cash for the AIM-listed company.
Since last year, Frontier has refocused on “creative management simulation” games, where players create or manage fictional communities or projects, after attempts to diversify into “adjacent genres” were unsuccessful.
The company plans to release three CMS games over the next three fiscal years, including an unannounced proprietary IP game and the next Jurassic World game.
Another game launching soon is F1 Manager 2024, the third installment in the official Formula 1 race management simulation series.
Jonny Watts, CEO of Frontier, said: “We have started the new financial year anew and refocused, with a clear strategy and a sustainable cost base.
“We have a gaming portfolio that continues to deliver pleasing results and an exciting CMS-led roadmap ahead.”
After the announcement has Frontier Developments shares rose 9.4 percent to 303 cents early Wednesday afternoon, meaning they are up about 180 percent over the past six months.
For the current year, the group said it was ‘comfortable’ with sales reaching analyst expectations of £87 million and ‘confident of being able to achieve profitability’.
Frontier was founded in 1994 by David Braben, who later founded the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a British charity whose business arm makes computers popular among amateur coders and hobbyists.
Shares of Raspberry Pi rose 42 percent after going public on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, marking a major win for British markets, which have struggled to attract new listings this year.
Many companies have recently moved their primary listings to Wall Street in the hope of higher valuations, such as building materials supplier CRH, plumbing products distributor Indivior and Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment.