Ubisoft targets non-IFRS operating income of 400 million euros in 2022-2023 – 05/11/2022 at 18:15


(AOF) – Ubisoft achieved net profit IFRS group share of 79.1 million euros for its 2021-2022 financial year, down from the 103.1 million earned during the previous financial year. IFRS operating profit also fell to 241.5 million euros (-16.6%). Net bookings, the equivalent of adjusted turnover, which serves as a reference for the video game publisher, amounted to 2.13 billion euros, down 5%, but the gross margin increased by 1.8 points to 87.3%.

For the 2022-2023 financial year, Ubisoft expects significant growth in net bookings, which are expected to be around 280 million euros for the first quarter, and non-IFRS operating income around 400 million .

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Key points

– World’s third largest independent video game publisher created in 1986, holding the flagship franchises Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Watch Dogs, Far Cry and the Tom Clancy series (Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rainbow, etc.) with 141 million active players;

– Turnover of €2.2 billion split between North America for 50%, Europe for 37% and Asia-Pacific for 11%);

– Games available on all media: 33% on Playstation, 21% on XBox, 23% on PC, 11% on Nintendo and 8% on mobiles;

– 5 strengths for the business model: ownership of all brands, integration of technological innovations in the R&D policy (like Google Stadia for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), control of internal production at 96%, then

rise in

power of recurring revenue (64% contributed by the “back catalog”) and profitability via digitalization;

– Capital held by 2 reference shareholders – 15.9% of the capital and 23.3% of the voting rights by the founding brothers and the Guillemot family and 4% by the employees, Yves Guillemot being Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of administration of 11 members;

– Solid balance sheet, with €1.7 billion in equity, €80 million in net debt and €1.6 billion in cash.

Challenges

– Strategy for the gaming community: creation and production of video games on all media, dematerialized, multi-player and multi-platform via Ubisoft Connect / development of franchises / respect for player data / quality of infrastructures, reinforced by the acquisition of the i3D.net host;

– Innovation strategy led by the Knowledge Management and Technology Group departments on the one hand, the Innovation Lab on the other: open to animation and film via Motion Pictures (Raving Rabbids series) / developing streaming and cloud gaming;

– Environmental strategy driven by the BEGES report and praised by Sustain Analytics: use of renewable energies for French and Canadian data centers / sequestration of GHG emissions and reduction of emissions per employee by 8.8% in March 2024, compared to 2019 / member of Playing for the Planet;

– Spin-offs from the integration of Ketchapp, some games of which will be integrated into the Weixin laptop – 980 million users – of Chinese Tencent and development of a new Star Wars game with Lucasfilm Game;

– Visibility of the activity with an order book equal to the annual directory figure;

– Production power via the “Lead associate” organization of 45 creation studios, and cutting-edge technologies (Anvil and Snowdrop for engines, Ubisoft connect and I3D.net for distribution, Web3, VR, voxel, etc.) .

The metaverse revolution –

Ubisoft has taken a first step in the realization of its metaverse through the launch of Ubisoft Quartz, a platform where players can obtain virtual objects certified and traceable on a blockchain. New players have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in recent months. Their games (“Axie Infinity” or “Blankos Block Party”), still confidential, allow users to own their avatars or plots of virtual land, which they can then resell to other players. Niantic, publisher of the video game “Pokémon Go”, has just raised 300 million dollars to finance firms operating in the metaverse. The company quickly positioned itself on this technology from which “Pokémon Go” is derived, which has generated more than 5 billion dollars in revenue since its release.



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