STOCKHOLM, Feb. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at
10.00 am CET, Starbreeze CEO
Bo Andersson Klint and CFO
Sebastian Ahlskog will host a live
stream and present the report on Starbreeze Twitch channel:
https://www.twitch.tv/starbreeze
FOURTH QUARTER 2017
- Net sales increased by 4.4 percent to SEK 103.8 million (99.4).
- PAYDAY generated SEK 20.4 million
(37.8) and Dead by Daylight accounted for SEK 67.6 million (54.6) of net sales.
- EBITDA amounted to SEK 6.4
million (38.8).
- The loss before tax amounted to SEK
-67.9 million (32.3).
- Basic and diluted earnings per share were SEK -0.22 (0.11).
- New financing plan for StarVR Corporation.
- Completion of the acquisition of Indian production company
Dhruva.
- Impairment loss on RAID: World War II of SEK 20.2 million.
FULL YEAR 2017
- Net sales increased by 4.6 percent to SEK 361.4 million (345.5).
- PAYDAY generated SEK 120.3
million (162.4) and Dead by Daylight accounted for
SEK 201.5 million (143.7).
- EBITDA amounted to SEK -53.5
million (81.2).
- Starbreeze is reporting a loss before tax of SEK -176.2 million (55.9).
- Basic and diluted earnings per share were SEK -0.55 (0.22).
- Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period amounted to
SEK 233.8 million (669.4)
- The board of directors is proposing no dividend for the 2017
financial year.
AFTER THE END OF THE PERIOD
- Directed issue of new shares to Swedish and international
investors raised approximately SEK 238
million before transaction costs.
- Decision in favor of a rights issue of SEK 150 million (see separate press
release).
CEO Bo Andersson Klint
remarks on the report:
A STRONG FINISH TO 2017 AND HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR
2018
SUSTAINED GROWTH AND POSITIVE EBITDA
We are closing the year with our best fourth quarter to date in
terms of revenue, with net sales above SEK
100 million. Even though RAID: World War II (RAID) was a
disappointment, we delivered sales growth of 4.4 percent and
positive EBITDA of SEK 6.4 million in
the fourth quarter. As previously communicated, we may show
negative EBITDA and/or cash flow until we release OVERKILL's The
Walking Dead (OTWD).
In the quarter, we continued to add vital components to our
business. As of December 22, the
acquired Indian production company Dhruva is included in the
financial statements. We also invested in building our VR centers
in Dubai and Stockholm during the period.
We expanded our game development teams during the year,
resulting in substantially higher employee benefits expense than in
the preceding year. Notably, there was an increase in depreciation,
amortization and impairments during the quarter, year-on-year. This
is due to our having more games available in the market, such as
Dead by Daylight and RAID, which we are thus amortizing. An
impairment loss on RAID of SEK 20.2
million was also recognized during the quarter to match the
asset to the anticipated cash flow as game sales have been poorer
than expected.
ONE OF THE MOST-PLAYED GAMES IN THE WORLD
PAYDAY 2 is still a highly relevant product and was one of the
most frequently played games on the digital platform Steam in 2017.
The VR version of the game – the biggest VR game in the world in
terms of content – is currently in beta testing. With only a week
or two to go, the release for Nintendo Switch is fast approaching
and we are already accepting preorders. Based on the
undiminished interest in PAYDAY, we have also decided to extend the
development period of PAYDAY 2 into 2019, as a bridge to PAYDAY
3.
GAAS AND THE MULTIPLATFORM STRATEGY ARE DELIVERING
Our most important publishing title Dead by Daylight was a star
performer during the quarter and the full year of 2017, proof of
the strength of our Games as a Service concept. The game generated
revenue of SEK 202 million in 2017,
up from SEK 144 million in 2016 when
the game was released. We successfully released the game for the
Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms in 2017 and released no fewer
than seven updates, which took prominent brands like Leatherface
and A Nightmare on Elm Street into the homes of our players.
The latest update, The Saw Chapter, was released simultaneously for
all platforms in January, becoming our fastest-selling DLC
ever.
PHASE THREE IN THE VR VENTURE
We successfully established Starbreeze and StarVR as leading
brands in VR and location-based entertainment during the year. We
are now in phase three of the VR venture we began in 2014 by
building the technical platform in the StarVR HMD. In 2017, we
continued to invest in location-based VR in order to reach the
final goal: to produce and sell games and experiences for external
operators of location-based VR operators, such as amusement parks
and shopping centers. We have invested time and resources in
building the VR locations in Dubai
and Stockholm as full-on concept
stores to demonstrate how our content and headset can work together
to create a superior concept.
Our initiative as the main partner to the brand-new VR Park
under construction in the Dubai Mall, is in its polishing phase and
we're very excited to deploy more than 100 VR stations throughout
the 7,000 square meter center. As a whole, the VR Park will quite
possibly be the largest high-end indoor VR Park in the world.
We are convinced that location-based VR is the optimal business
model for VR for the masses in the foreseeable future. IMAX and
SEGA are already customers of both Starbreeze and StarVR
Corporation.
STARVR JOINT VENTURE TAKES THE HEADSET TO MARKET
As of our latest agreement, Acer has taken on the majority of
the financing of the joint venture StarVR Corporation, enabling us
to concentrate our resources on producing content. StarVR
Corporation has already delivered on the promise to put the headset
into serialized production in the current version before Christmas
to meet the demands of customers such as SEGA and the Dubai VR
park. The next version of our VR headset for a professional
customer base will be presented later in the year. The joint
venture will move forward as an increasingly independent
organization and we are in talks with Acer on the possibility of an
IPO for StarVR. We're in agreement with Acer that this is an
excellent way to propel the business into becoming the leading
global VR company we set out to create from the beginning.
FOCUS ON VR CONTENT
Our VR publishing partners are ready, and we will continue
building the LBE content catalog to ensure the capacity of our new
and existing customers. APEX, a VR experience developed by Lucky
Hammers, is part of the opening offer in Dubai and proof of the knowledge we have
accumulated over the years, and how we can take VR content to new
heights, with the right partners. Another example of the value of
our content catalog is the license agreement with StarVR
Corporation for The Mummy, a VR experience that gave us
SEK 5.3 million in revenue for the
quarter and will also generate royalties on future revenue.
STRENGTHENING THE WAR CHEST
A little less than a year ago, we decided to adjust the promised
release date of OVERKILL's The Walking Dead (OTWD) from 2017 to
2018 to assure the quality of the game. Combined with poorer than
expected sales of RAID, this created a need to secure the financing
of our current business plan to the tune of about SEK 75 million until the release of OTWD. Toward
that end, we successfully executed a new share issue of some
SEK 238 million directed at a number
of Swedish and international institutions, with Robur and Första
AP-fonden in the lead. We are deeply gratified by the trust they
have shown us. We would also like to give our current shareholders
the opportunity to participate in a rights issue of SEK 150 million, an issue resolved by the board
today, and an EGM will follow. After this capital raising, we have
the funds we need to both execute our plan to achieve revenue of at
least SEK 2 billion in 2020 and grasp
several business opportunities that we believe are going to create
significant value for our shareholders. We will, including
expanding the marketing campaign for OTWD, be extending the
development period of PAYDAY 2 to 2019 and accelerating the
production plan for PAYDAY 3. I am also extremely pleased that we
have now been able to sign the publishing project 10 Crowns, which
is being developed by some of the brains behind Civilization IV and
Civilization V.
2018 BELONGS TO THE WALKING DEAD
Looking in the rearview mirror, 2017 was an eventful year, with
many milestones achieved. We are now looking forward to 2018 when
OTWD will be our biggest release ever and all I can say is that our
expectations for the game are high. When we started the campaign at
the end of the year, proof of massive interest from the worldwide
gaming community was instant, which made our team even more pumped.
We are looking forward to revealing more of the game, step by step,
and introducing the other main characters ahead of the release this
fall.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Ann Charlotte Svensson
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
|Tel: +46-8-209-208
ir@starbreeze.com
Starbreeze AB is required to disclose this information under
the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Market Act. The
information was provided by the above contact persons for
publication on 15 February 2018 at
08:00 CET.
This information was brought to you by Cision
http://news.cision.com
http://news.cision.com/starbreeze-ab/r/starbreeze-ab--publ--year-end-report-2017,c2452945
The following files are available for download:
http://mb.cision.com/Main/14632/2452945/792394.pdf
|
Starbreeze Year-end
Report 2017
|