Further Financial Improvement For Ubi News
Jon Wilcox
09/12/2005
The French publisher announces debt halved and an increase in net income for the first half of their fiscal year...
Ubisoft has today announced its financial results for the first half of the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which ended on September 30th 2005. Although the company remains very much in the red, net income for the six months has increased by 21.6 million Euros compared with the same period in 2004-2005, from -32.9 million Euros to -11.3 million Euros.
Net sales for the first half of the fiscal year have improved by 19% compared to 2004-2005, increasing from 128.2 million Euros to 152.9 million Euros. Finally Ubisoft has also announced that their net debt has halved compared with the same period last year, from 169.7 million Euros to 83.9 million Euros.
The reason for the increase in net sales has been placed upon some of the titles released by Ubisoft during the period, including Tom Clancy's Rainbox Six Lockdown, Far Cry: Instincts, and Brothers in Arms.
Looking ahead to the next quarter, Ubisoft are continuing to anticipate sales worth around 250 million Euros, thanks to the release of titles such as King Kong: Official Game of the Movie, and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. The fourth quarter of the fiscal year will see the release of the next instalments in several key franchises for the company including Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Splinter Cell 4, and Blazing Angels.
Speaking about the financial results Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft said, "Ubisoft saw progress in all of its performance indicators and is today a major player in the video game industry. Indeed, already second largest independent editor in Europe, Ubisoft joined the top six in the USA, and ranks even in the top five on consoles, as it continues to gain market shares. This trend is expected to prevail in the second half of the year: with major game launches scheduled, fiscal year 2005-2006 could well be an outstanding year. The sustained investments that we have done over the past several years, together with the acclaimed quality of our games will make it possible for us to take advantage of every possible growth opportunity presented by the new consoles"
Ubisoft expects to have zero net debt at the end of the fiscal year, which ends on March 31st 2006, along with net sales of around 600 million Euros. These annual results will be announced on June 5th 2006.
We'll have further coverage on Ubisoft shortly...