Full year trading update

RNS Number : 9810J

Frontier Developments PLC

19 June 2014

 



19 June 2014

Frontier Developments plc

Full year trading update

Frontier Developments plc  (AIM: FDEV, "Frontier," the "Group"), a leading developer of video games with studios in Cambridge, UK and Halifax, Nova Scotia, today announces the following trading update for the financial year ended 31 May 2014.

The business has performed well and Frontier continues to deliver high quality, entertaining games. In the financial year the Group successfully completed Zoo Tycoon for Microsoft Game Studios in time for the launch of XBox One and released Coaster Crazy Deluxe on both WiiU and iOS, each sharing the same cloud-based server using Frontier's Cobra technology.

The Group continues to make good progress in its transition from being primarily a developer of video games for major external publishers into a business which leverages its proven skills via an increased proportion of self-published projects and the further development and exploitation of its proprietary Cobra enabling technology. As planned, Frontier is experiencing a reduction in headline revenue and EBITDA whilst it invests in Elite: Dangerous and other key elements that will facilitate this transition, but the Group is confident that the continued delivery of this plan will result in much greater returns and further opportunity.

Frontier has raised in excess of £3.0m from over 50,000 backers of Elite: Dangerous to add to its own significant investment in the project, and has recently started, on schedule, the Premium Beta Phase which sees over 10,000 more of the backers now participating by playing the game. The Group demonstrated Elite: Dangerous to US media at the E3 computer game trade show in Los Angeles at the start of June. Response to the game has been very positive, and the game picked up an award for the 'Best of E3'.

The Group continues to manage its mix of revenue streams and is working on three further as yet unannounced projects for major external publishers at a combined value of $12m (just over £7.0m at today's exchange rates), as announced on 20 February 2014 and 19 May 2014. All three are new IP, and two of these came from Frontier's internal 'Game of the Week' game incubation process. These are currently scheduled for release in the 2014/15 financial year.

The Group is also working on new versions of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3) as a result of the agreement with Atari announced on 29 October 2013 which will accelerate the Group's self-publishing and ecommerce plans. 

The Group continues to have a strong balance sheet and, at 31 May 2014, Frontier had gross cash of £8.6m, placing the Group in a good financial position to support its continuing investment plans as it continues with its transition going forwards.

David Braben, Chief Executive of Frontier Developments, said:

"Elite: Dangerous and its enabling technology are progressing very well. We have had a good cadence of public releases throughout development of the Alpha phase of the game, and have entered the Beta phase in a great state. Other (unannounced) projects are going very well too, and the Group is well positioned to continue to deliver on its plans.

 We continue to transition the business and look forward to further building on our reputation for consistent delivery of innovative, high quality games and technology in 2014."

Frontier Developments expects to report its results in early September 2014.

Enquiries:

Frontier Developments	[phone]
David Braben, CEO
David Walsh, COO Neil Armstrong, CFO
Canaccord Genuity	[phone]
Simon Bridges/Cameron Duncan
finnCap Ltd	[phone]
Malar Velaigam
Instinctif Partners	[phone]
Kay Larsen/Adrian Duffield

About Frontier Developments plc 

Frontier Developments plc, listed on the AIM stock market (ticker: FDEV), is a leading independent game developer founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the seminal 'Elite' game.  Based in Cambridge, UK and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Frontier uses its proprietary 'Cobra' game development technology to create innovative games across videogame consoles, computers, smartphones and tablets. 

 

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