PIWORLD Investor Podcasts Frontier Developments (FDEV) Presentation at MELLO London November 2018
By Alex Bevis, CFO
Frontier Developments plc (‘Frontier’), is a world-class video game developer and publisher with multiple revenue generating franchises.
Founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the seminal Elite (1984), Frontier achieved success as a work-for-hire games developer over a twenty year period, with a proven track record over a variety of genres and many platforms.
The rise of digital distribution was the catalyst to transition to a more profitable self-published model, and in 2013 Frontier supported the development of a self-published title, Elite Dangerous, through a combination of kickstarter funding and an IPO on AIM (FDEV). Elite Dangerous launched in December 2014, followed by Planet Coaster in November 2016 and Jurassic World Evolution in June 2018.
Frontier is therefore well positioned having successfully launched three revenue generating game franchises. The most recent, Jurassic World Evolution, achieved the biggest launch to date – 1 million units in just 5 weeks. Frontier has a proven track record of sustaining and nurturing existing franchises to deliver multi-year revenues, with each new franchise release providing a step-up in overall financial performance. Franchise four is now in full development and targeted for release in FY20, and two more new franchises are in earlier stages of development.
Frontier employs over 400 people in Cambridge and utilises its proprietary ‘COBRA’ game development technology to create innovative games, currently focusing on video game consoles and personal computers. Revenue in FY18 (year ended 31 May 2018) was £34 million and analysts expectations for FY19 are £75-88 million.
Agenda – 00:30
FDEV overview – 0-:51
Our industry – 01:49
FDEV history to date – 04:32
Launching and sustaining a game franchise – 07:47
Financial performance with scale up of franchises – 12:17
Financial performance FY12 to FY22 – 13:54
Income statement – 15:28
Players in Games – 20:40
Future opportunities – 22:11
Summary and outlook – 25:15
Q&A – 25:49