EMBRACER GROUP AB 20/21
OPERATIONAL EBIT INCREASED 100% TO SEK 603 MILLION
THIRD QUARTER, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020 (COMPARED TO OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2019)
> Net sales increased by 44% to SEK 2,168.1 million (1,508.5). Net sales of the Games busi-ness area increased by 62% to SEK 1,355.6 million (835.7). THQ Nordic SEK 379.8 million (333.0), Deep Silver SEK 496.9 million (466.6), Coffee Stain SEK 99.2 million (36.1), Saber Interactive SEK 307.0 million (-) and DECA Games SEK 72.7 million (-).
> Net sales of Partner Publishing/Film business area increased by 21% to SEK 812.5 million (672.9).
> EBITDA increased by 70% to SEK 878.7 million (518.4), corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 41%.
> Operational EBIT increased by 100% to SEK 603.1 million (302.1) corresponding to an Operational EBIT margin of 28% (20%).
> Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 840.4 million (239.5). Investments in intangible assets amounted to SEK -557.7 million (-419.0). Free Cash Flow amounted to SEK 309.1 million (-207.3).
> Adjusted earnings per share was SEK 1.06 (0.68).
> Organic growth in constant currency for the Games Business Area amounted to 21% in the quarter.
> Total game development projects increased 56% to 150 (96). Total headcount increased 93% to 5,730 (2,970) where total game developers increased 92% to 4,325 (2,258).
Key performance indicators, GroupOct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
Net sales, SEK m 3,910.3 5,249.4
EBITDA, SEK m 1,326.1 1,821.3
Operational EBIT, SEK m 747.0 1,033.0
Cash flow from operating activities, SEK m 962.6 1,728.3
2,168.1 878.7 603.1 840.4 309.1 558 150 4,325 5,730 44 41 28 | 6,620.0 2,812.9 1,967.6 2,377.2 824.4 1,540 150 4,325 5,730 69 42 30 |
Free cash flow, SEK m
-275.8 -0.1
Total investments in intangible assets, SEK m 1,189 1,653
Total game development projects
96 103
Total internal and external game developers 2,258 2,365
Total headcount 2,970 3,109
Sales growth, % EBITDA margin, % Operational EBIT margin, %
12 3
34 35
19 20
In this report, all figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period of the previous year, unless otherwise stated.
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020 1
CEO COMMENTS
STRONG ORGANIC GROWTH EXPECTED COMING YEARS
- The Company prepares for the next decades as public company by deciding on IFRS conversion and process to list on regulated market
We are pleased to announce another stable quarter driven particularly by our back cat-alogue's strong performance. Net sales increased by 44% to SEK 2,168.1 million (1,508.5) whereof the Games business area contributed SEK 1,355.6 million (835.7) driven by 21% organic CCY growth (YTD CCY 54%). The proforma CCY growth in the quarter is estimated to 33%. Operational EBIT grew by 100% to SEK 603.1 million (302.1).
As our operative groups are growing, we have continued to strengthen the parent com-pany and implemented structured processes and management in order to ambitiously build Embracer Group for the next decades.
I am glad to announce that the Board of Directors has decided to convert to the reporting standard IFRS and thereby start the process towards being listed on a regulated mar-ket. The Board of Directors has already decided to establish an Audit Committee and a Remuneration Committee to be effective immediately. We estimate the process to become listed on a regulated market will take 18-36 months.
To constantly invest for long-term organic growth is a key strategic pillar across our operative groups. Reinvesting our underlying cashflow into scaling up existing studios, setting up new studios and making more great games. In the past quarter, investments in ongoing game development were a record SEK 523 million corresponding to more than three times the value of completed (released) games. Despite these growth investments, our free cash flow reached SEK 309 million (-207) during the quarter and on a trailing 12 month-period it is exceeding SEK 1 billion.
Our quality first approach means that we give the developers the required time or resources to release a quality product. Over time, we believe this approach in gen-eral makes the most sense for all stakeholders - the fans and gamers, developers and employees, our business partners and the shareholders. On May 25, long-awaited Biomu-tant from our internal studio Experiment 101 will be released by THQ Nordic on multiple platforms. We are well aware that it has been quite a delay, but we are confident that it has been delayed for the right reasons. To give some idea of our processes, during the current year we have decided to move more than ten releases into the next financial year, mainly due to our quality first approach.
Looking ahead, we now expect the next financial year ending March 2022 to become the strongest in our history driven by numerous significant releases towards the second half of the year. In total, we expect to complete more than 70 premium game development projects with a total completion value in the range SEK 2,500-3,000 million, according to management estimates at the time of this report. This excludes any additions from the announced transactions on February 3 with Gearbox, Aspyr and EasyBrain. Consequently, we now expect Q4, the current quarter ending March, to have lower activity in terms of new releases. The value of completed (released) games in Q4 is estimated to be in the range of SEK 120 - 140 million and between SEK 840 - 860 million for the fiscal year.
During the current quarter, I am humbled to see the gamers' reception of the Early Access release on Steam of Valheim. The game is inspired by Viking culture, developed by our external partner Iron Gate and published by Coffee Stain. At the publication of this report, the game has already sold close to 3 million copies. The commercial impact follows Cof-fee Stain's typical partnership with external developers, including a minority ownership in the studio.
2
The M&A market is more vivid than ever and the number of entrepreneurs and creators wanting to join our group keeps growing. Across the group, we are having more dialogues than ever. Our ambition is to continue growing the number of mergers and acquisitions, as our ecosystem expands with additional operative groups where transactions are initiated and made. In my belief, a key factor to our success is that entrepreneurs who become part of Embracer maintain their creative and operative freedom while they can go faster and boost their growth by being docked into our growing eco-system and available resources.
Embracer just got started, and will over the coming decades continue the same strategy we started years ago. We are a truly independent platform for entrepreneurs and currently only represent around 1 percent of the global video games industry. Our competitors and industry peers are generally significantly larger companies.
Retaining and attracting the best talents are our most important mission to grow our group in the future. We are actively recruiting across most of our studios and grew headcount organically by 20% in 2020. A couple of weeks ago, we announced three transformative transactions when welcoming The Gearbox Entertainment Company, Easybrain and Aspyr Media to the Embracer family. After the closing of the announced deals, Embracer Group will maintain a strong balance sheet with a financial net cash position and approximately SEK 10 billion in cash and available funds to support further M&A.
I am grateful to see the willingness and engagement in maintaining our global group's business, despite the still on-going covid-19 pandemic. The working from home situation is challenging in many ways. It's a new challenge for our management to address and to find new creative solutions to handle the very best way possible to keep a work-life balance and prevent ambient stress. I want to sincerely thank each and every one for all the efforts that keep our business going, during the seemingly never-ending-pandemic. I am looking forward to when this is over, and we all can see each other again.
To conclude, I would like to send my thanks to all our colleagues, customers, business partners, and shareholders for contributing to our growing family's prosperity and success.
February 18, 2021, Karlstad, Värmland, Sweden
Lars Wingefors
Co-founder & CEO
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
All comments refer to the quarter unless otherwise stated.
CONSOLIDATED NET SALES
Consolidated net sales by business area, SEK m
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
ChangeApr-Dec 2020
Apr-Dec 2019
Change
Games - THQ Nordic Games - Deep Silver Games - Coffee Stain Games - Saber Interactive Games - DECA Games Games Subtotal Partner Publishing/Film Consolidated Net Sales
379.8 496.9 99.2 307.0 72.7 | 333.0 14% 466.6 6% 36.1 175% - - | 1,434.5 1,616.4 401.5 915.2 105.5 |
1,355.6 812.5 |
| 4,473.1 2,146.9 |
2,168.1 | 6,620.0 |
847.7 69%
1,281.7 26%
163.6 145% - -
2,293.0 95%
1,617.2 33%
3,910.3 69%
Consolidated net sales in the quarter increased by 44% or SEK 659.6 million compared to last year. The performance was supported by a continued strong interest in titles released in previous quarters, and long-lasting top sellers from previous financial years.
All business areas contributed to the growth, of which the recently acquired companies Saber Interactive contributed SEK 307.0 million and DECA Games with SEK 72.7 million. THQ Nordic, Coffee Stain and Deep Silver showed growth over last year, mainly driven by solid back catalogue sales. Organic growth in constant currency for the Games Business Area amounted to 21% in the quarter. The slowdown in organic growth compared to recent quarters is explained by a lower contribution from new releases, as the value of finalized game development was only SEK 156 million in the quarter.
The growth in Partner Publishing/Film business area is mainly driven by larger releases in the quarter compared to last year.
CONSOLIDATED EXPENSES
Operating expenses, SEK mOct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
Goods for resale
Other external expenses
Personnel expenses -786.4 -1,130.0
Depreciation, amortization and impairment of property, plant and
equipment and intangible assets Total operating expenses
-861.3 -409.2 -488.4 -939.5 | -746.7 -231.4 -305.0 -427.4 | -2,655.3 -1,061.1 -1,265.9 -2,481.1 |
-2,698.5 | -7,463.5 |
-1,909.8 -2,576.0
-600.7 -784.0
-1,077.3 -1,475.9 -4,374.2 -5,965.9
Consolidated expenses has increased due to a number of additional acquisitions and general growth of underlying business. Goods for resale mainly includes cost of replication, license fees and royalties. Growth in goods for resale was relatively low compared to growth in net sales, resulting in an increased gross margin of 60% (51%). The improved gross margin is mainly due to a favorable product mix shift towards business area Games coupled with a higher gross margin within business area Games. Gross margin improvement in business area Games is mainly driven by the addition of Saber which has a high proportion of royalty income.
The year-over-year increase in other external expenses and personnel expenses is primar-ily explained by acquisitions made versus corresponding quarter last year and increased internal investments in the Group's gaming portfolio of SEK 151.6 million. The net increase excluding capitalized game development amounts to SEK 209.6 million and is driven by increased overhead to manage the growing games portfolio as well as increased general & administration expenses to further strengthen the Group's corporate capabilities.
4
CONSOLIDATED DEPRECIATION AND AMORTIZATION EXPENSES
Depreciation and amortization, SEK mOct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
Intangible assets
Game development
Other intangible assets (Film etc.)
Sub-total
Acquisition-related depreciation
IP-rights
Surplus value Partner Publishing/Film Goodwill
Sub-total
Total intangible assets
Tangible assets
Total depreciation and amortization
-200.0 -65.3 -265.3 -117.9 -10.0 -536.0 -663.9 | -133.0 -76.1 -209.1 -122.8 -10.8 -77.5 -211.1 | -613.3 -163.1 -776.4 -324.3 -40.4 -1,312.5 -1,677.2 |
-929.2 -10.3 | -420.2 -7.2 | -2,453.6 -27.5 |
-939.5 | -2,481.1 |
-439.1 -587.1
-119.1 -171.8
-558.2 -758.9
-292.5 -359.4
-31.0 -43.1
-174.6 -285.1
-498.2 -687.6
-1,056.4
-1,446.5
-20.9 -1,077.3
-29.4 -1,475.9
The increased amortization of games is mainly explained by the higher value of finalized game development during April-December 2020 versus last year. The increase in acquisi-tion related depreciations over last year in the quarter is primarily explained by that more acquisitions were completed during the year where the acquisition of Saber Interactive accounts for the largest portion.
Depreciation and amortization principles
Game development; Amortization of finished game development projects - degressive amortization over two years; 1/3 amortization during months 1 to 3 following release, 1/3 amortization in months 4 to 12 following release and the remaining 1/3 in months 13 to 24 following release.
Other intangible assets (Film etc); The majority of other intangible assets are related to the Group's film business and are amortized based on actual sales in relation to expected sales of the relevant title.
IP-rights; Amortization of IP rights related to Games - straight-line amortization over five years.
Surplus value Film & Partner publishing; Amortization of surplus values related to Partner Publishing/Film - straight-line amortization over five years.
Goodwill; Amortization of Goodwill - straight-line amortization over five years.
CONSOLIDATED EARNINGS
The increase of the Group's EBITDA, from SEK 518.4 million to SEK 878.7 million, and Opera-tional EBIT, from SEK 302.1 million to SEK 603.1 million, for the quarter is mainly explained by the increase in net sales and improved gross margin compared to the same period last year.
The increase in Operational EBIT fell through to EBIT but was offset by increased acquisi-tion-related amortizations of SEK 663.9 million. EBIT decreased, from SEK 91.0 million to SEK -60.8 million, in the quarter.
The sale of a minority share resulted in a capital gain in the quarter of SEK 32.0 million and is reported as part of Profit from participation in associated companies within EBIT. EBIT was also affected by an operational FX loss of SEK 25.6 million relating to the revaluation of current operational assets and liabilities.
5
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW AND FINANCIAL POSITION
Oct-Dec | Oct-Dec | |
SEK m | 2020 | 2019 |
EBITDA | 878.7 | 518.4 |
Cash Taxes paid | -70.4 | 3.3 |
Other non cash flow items | 38.7 | 30.3 |
Change in working capital | -6.6 | -312.5 |
Cash Flow from operating activities | 840.4 | 239.5 |
Net investment in intangible assets | -557.7 | -419.0 |
Net investment in tangible assets | -23.6 | -8.8 |
Net investment in financial assets | 50.0 | -19.0 |
Free Cash Flow | 309.1 | -207.3 |
Cash flow from financing activities | 5,404.2 | 229.3 |
Net investment in acquired companies | -2,308.2 | -88.2 |
Cash flow for the period | 3,405.1 | -66.2 |
Investments in intangible fixed assets is related to capitalized expenditure for ongoing game development of SEK -522.7 million, film rights SEK -24.2 million and other SEK -10.7 million. Investments in financial assets is positive SEK +50.0 million due to cash received from a sold minority share. Cash flow from financing activities is mainly related to the completed directed share issue in the quarter.
Dec 31, | Sep 30, | |
SEK m | 2020 | 2020 |
Cash and cash equivalents | 6,919.1 | 3,579.1 |
Unutilized Credit Facility | 5,557.9 | 1,086.8 |
Available cash and unutilized credit facilities | 12,477.0 | 4,665.9 |
Net Cash | 4,901.0 | 1,281.3 |
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE PRICE OVERVIEW |
As of 31 December 2020 the Group had provisions of 1,016.9 MSEK for earnouts with expected settlement according to the table below.
Provisions for conditional purchase price, SEK mFinancial year when settlement is expected
21/22
22/23
23/24
>24/25
Total
Provisions to be settled in cash Provisions to be settled by shares 1)
Total
25.9 0.9 26.8
152.4
106.0
644.4 928.7
0.9 153.3
0.9 106.9
85.5 88.2
729.9 1,016.9
1) The present value of the additional purchase prices has been calculated based on expected outcome. The provisions will vary over time depending on, among other things, the degree of fulfillment of the conditions for the additional pur-chase prices, the development of certain exchange rates versus the Swedish krona, the level of interest rate and the development of Embracer's share price. This means that the number of shares to be paid as additional purchase price can vary but never exceed 769,505 according to the earnout agreements. If all shares are issued, the dilution in capital will amount to 0.2% and 0.0% of the voting rights as of December 31, 2020.
Out of the 423.2 million shares outstanding there are approximately 54.3 million shares with clawback rights as per 31 December 2020. These shares have already been issued to cover for future earnout obligations.
6
INTANGIBLE ASSETS
The Group had intangible assets of SEK 14,686.2 million at the end of the quarter, compared to SEK 13,768.2 million at the end of the previous quarter, September 30, 2020, distributed as follows:
Intangible assets - Specification, SEK m | Dec 31, 2020 | Mar 31, 2020 | ||
Completed games | 551.8 | 409.7 | 604.8 | 438.6 |
Ongoing game development projects | 2,794.6 | 1,748.8 | 2,427.7 | 2,117.7 |
Other intangible assets (film etc.) | 182.9 | 250.2 | 212.2 | 250.1 |
Intangible assets | 3,529.3 | 2,408.7 | 3,244.7 | 2,806.4 |
IP-rights | 1,368.6 | 1,920.0 | 1,463.2 | 1,479.8 |
Surplus value Partner Publishing/Film | 147.2 | 192.1 | 167.5 | 173.0 |
Goodwill | 9,641.1 | 1,112.2 | 8,892.8 | 1,411.7 |
Acquisition related intangible assets | 11,156.9 | 3,224.3 | 10,523.5 | 3,064.5 |
Total | 14,686.2 | 5,633.0 | 13,768.2 | 5,870.9 |
Dec 31, 2019 Sep 30, 2020
PRELIMINARY PURCHASE PRICE ALLOCATION
During the quarter Embracer closed the following acquisitions; Silent Games, Coffe Stain North, Nimble Giants Studios, 34 BigThings, Purple Lamps, Flying Wild Hogs, Mad Head Games, Snapshot Games, Quantic Lab and Sandbox Strategies. The acquired companies have been included into Embracer's consolidated financial reporting from each respective closing date. A summary of the preliminary purchase price allocations is provided below:
SEK m
On-going game development | 134 |
Finished game development | 4 |
IP-rights/Trademarks | 0 |
Other intangible assets | 2 |
Total intangible assets | 140 |
Total financial assets | 27 |
Total tangible assets | 27 |
Net working capital | -44 |
Cash and cash equivalents | 104 |
Provisions | -1 |
Other long term liabilities | -55 |
Total net assets acquired excluding surplus value | 198 |
Goodwill | 1,910 |
Surplus - value IP | 0 |
Surplus - film | 0 |
Minority | -1 |
Deferred tax liabilities | 0 |
Total surplus value net of taxes | 1,909 |
Total net assets acquired | 2,107 |
Acquired cash | -104 |
Shares issued | -362 |
Earnout | -314 |
Transactions with minority | 91 |
Other | 0 |
Net cash outflow on acquisition of business | 1,418 |
Cash outflow relating to earlier acquisitions | 890 |
Total Net Cash outflow on acquisitions of business | 2,308 |
7 | |
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020 |
The above surplus values SEK 1,910 million is the base for the Amortization related to acqui-sitions closed in the quarter below. The difference between SEK 1,910 million and SEK 1,822 million relates to amortizations in Q3 and currency rates.
Non-operational Depreciations and Amortizations - Forecast
SEK m
Q4 FY FY FY FY 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 24/25
FY FY 25/26 26/27
Total
Amortization related to acquisi-tions closed in the quarter Amortization related to acquisi-tions closed previous quarters
-96 -371 -371 -371 -371 -613 -2,367 -2,306 -2,045 -1,759
Non-operational Depreciations and Amortizations
-708 -2,738 -2,677 -2,416 -2,130
-508
-242 -265
Forecast Q4 20/21 is based on the average exchange rate during the quarter. Other periods forecast is based on exchange rate as per 31st December 2020.
Forecast is based on the purchase price allocations as per 31st December, which contain both preliminary and finalized purchase price allocations. The forecast above excludes IUGO, ATA, Zen, Gearbox, Easybrain and Aspyr, since these were not closed by 31st December.
DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES
Embracer operates on a global market and reports financial performance in SEK and thus has a dependency towards foreign currencies, mainly USD and EUR. The SEK has strengthened during the year versus USD and EUR. Everything else being equal, this would have a negative impact on net sales in SEK. However, organic growth in net sales in local currency would not be affected.
The consolidated equity of the group has been reduced with SEK 1,374.5 million in trans-lation differences from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020. The translation differences are mainly related to the revaluation of net assets in subsidiaries to the exchange rate per 31 December 2020.
PARENT COMPANY
The Parent Company's net sales for the quarter were SEK 185.4 million (109.7) and profit before tax was SEK -369.0 million (9.8). The negative outcome is explained by unrealized currency exchange loss on loan to a subsidiary. Profit after tax was SEK -297.9 million (7.7).
Investments in intangible assets in the quarter were SEK 106.3 million (59.5).
Cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2020 were SEK 5,421.8 million (1,946.1). The Parent Company's equity at the end of the period was SEK 17,731.3 million (5,570.6).
8
MARKET OVERVIEW
MARKET DATA
Looking at the overall games market, 2020 was a strong year. Total market had sales of 139.9B USD according to SuperData, a Nielsen company. That's a 12% increase in compari-son with 2019. Premium games grew 28% year-over-year, while free-to-play grew 9%. 2020 were largely shaped by the covid-19 pandemic which changed consumer's demand pat-terns. The pandemic fuelled the games market growth and through-out the year back-cat-alogue sales in particular showed a strong performance. Despite the rollout of a vaccine, the games market is not expected to shrink during 2021. Long-term habits formed during lockdown seems to remain among new players.
The market shows no signs of slowing down and continues to grow in all segments which is beneficial for the entire Embracer Group. Consoles are in a transitional phase with the launch of the new systems PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S which happened in Novem-ber 2020. The huge demand outstrips the supply for the new consoles. At the same time, we see continued amazing performance of the existing consoles where Nintendo Switch is closing in on 80 million units. We see an increased interest in subscriptions with Xbox Game Pass passing 18 million subscribers. Looking at PC, the platform Steam reported that 25 mil-lion users were active at the same time in the start of 2021, a new record. And Virtual Reality were bolstered by the launch of Oculus Quest 2 in October 2020. VR video game revenues for 2020 increased 25% year-on-year to 589M USD according to SuperData.
For mobile games there will be uncertainty to user acquisition and ad monetization with Apple's iOS 14.5 (IDFA) update later this spring. This will have an impact on all app providers operating within free-to-play on Apple's devices who rely on ads for monetization.
9
OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW BY BUSINESS AREA
HQ
Vienna, Austria
STUDIOS 16 (11)
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - THQ NORDIC
Business Area: Games - THQ Nordic released the following new products in the quarter October-December 2020:
Channels | |||
Own | PC | Digital & Physical | |
Own | PC | Digital | |
Own | PC, PS4, Xbox One, | Digital & Physical | |
Switch, Stadia | |||
Spongebob: Battle for Bikini BottomTHQ Nordic | External | Stadia | Digital |
Rehydrated | |||
Own | Stadia | Digital | |
External | Stadia | Digital | |
Own | PC, PS4, Xbox One, | Digital | |
Switch | |||
External | PC, PS4, Xbox One, | Digital | |
Switch | |||
External | PC, Stadia | Digital | |
Own | Stadia | Digital |
Title
Publishing Label IP Owner Platforms
Aquanox Deep Descent Spellforce 3: Fallen God Add-on Chronos: Before the Ashes
THQ Nordic THQ Nordic THQ Nordic
Destroy all Humans! Monster Jam
Neighbours back from Hell
THQ Nordic THQ Nordic HandyGames
Chicken Police - Paint it red
HandyGames
El Hijo - A Wild West Tale Little Big Workshop
HandyGames HandyGames
Net sales of Business Area: Games - THQ Nordic increased 14% to SEK 379.8 million (333.0) compared to the same period last year.
THQ Nordic had a stable quarter, mainly driven by the back catalogue and evergreen titles like Wreckfest, as well as more recent releases including Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated and Destroy All Humans!. None of the new releases in the quarter had significant commercial impact.
During the quarter, several significant commercial deals were signed. On the back of the success of previous license releases, new licensing deals will be pursued.
On 18 November, THQ Nordic acquired the 38-people strong Purple Lamp Studios, an independent video game developer specialized in third party IP games based in Vienna, Austria. Purple Lamp has a longstanding partnership with THQ Nordic and has success-fully delivered several titles in collaboration, including SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated.
THQ Nordic has continued to strengthen corporate capabilities and has after the quarter done additional recruitments in the finance, accounting and legal team.
After the quarter, the release date for the long awaited game Biomutant was announced. The game is developed by the internal studio Experiment 101, based in Stockholm, Swe-den and will be published by THQ Nordic May 25.
For the quarter, ending march we expect THQ Nordic to have a slower commercial activity with no notable releases.
Destroy All Humans!
STUDIOS
Ashborne Games (Brno, Czech Republic)
Experiment 101 (Stockholm, Sweden)
Mirage Game Studios
(Karlstad, Sweden)
Pow Wow Entertainment
(Vienna, Austria)
PUBLISHERS
Alkimia Interactive (Barcelona, Spain)
Black Forest Games (Offenburg, Germany)
Bugbear Entertainment
(Helsinki, Finland)Grimlore Games (Munich, Germany)
Gunfire Games (Austin, USA)
HandyGames (Giebelstadt, Germany)Nine Rocks Games (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Pieces Interactive (Skövde, Sweden)
Piranha Bytes (Essen, Germany)
Rainbow Studios (Phoenix, USA)
Rainbow Studios (Montréal, Canada)Purple Lamp (Vienna, Austria)HandyGames (Giebelstadt, Germany)
THQ Nordic (Vienna, Austria)
HQ
Skövde, Sweden
STUDIOS 4 (3)
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - COFFEE STAIN
Net sales of Business Area: Games - Coffee Stain increased 175% to SEK 99.2 million (36.1) compared to the same period last year.
Coffee Stain had another stable quarter, without any major releases or updates in the quar-ter. The back catalogue kept performing well with Satisfactory and Deep Rock Galactic as the major revenue drivers. Goat Simulator continued to contribute during the quarter.
The remaining 40% of Coffee Stain North was acquired in November. Coffee Stain North is a game development studio founded in 2013. The studio, consists of 22 dedicated developers and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Coffee Stain North has been a longstanding partner of Coffee Stain Studios and a subsidiary since 2018. Coffee Stain North has collaborated on the phenomena Goat Simulator and developed the original title A Story About My Uncle. The studio is working on an unannounced title since 2017.
After the end of the quarter Valheim - a multiplayer survival game inspired by viking culture, was released under Early Access. Developed by the minority owned studio; Iron Gate and published by Coffee Stain. The game has greatly exceeded managements expectation and has sold close to 3 million copies.
STUDIOS
Coffee Stain Studios
(Skövde, Sweden)Coffee Stain North (Stockholm, Sweden)Box Dragon (Gothenburg, Sweden)Lavapotion (Gothenburg, Sweden)
PUBLISHERS
ASSOCIATED STUDIOS
Coffee Stain Publishing
(Stockholm, Sweden)Iron Gate (Skövde Sweden)Ghost Ship Games ApS (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Satisfactory
HQ
Munich, Germany
INTERNAL HEADCOUNT 1,918* (1,346*)
STUDIOS 10 (5)
*Incl total Koch Media Group (Deep Silver, Koch Film etc)
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - DEEP SILVER
Business Area: Games - Deep Silver released the following new products in the quarter October-December 2020:
Title | ||
Let's Sing Queen | Ravenscourt | Own |
Let's Sing 2021 | Ravenscourt | Own |
9 Monkeys of Shaolin | Ravenscourt | External |
Maneater | Deep Silver | External |
Ride 4 | Milestone | Own |
MXGP 2020 | Milestone | Own |
Publishing Label IP Owner | Platforms | Channels |
PS4, Xbox One, Switch | Digital & Physical | |
PS4, Switch | Digital & Physical | |
PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch | Digital & Physical | |
PS5, XSX | Digital | |
PC, PS4, Xbox One, XBX | Digital & Physical | |
PC, PS4, Xbox One | Digital & Physical |
Net sales of Business Area: Games - Deep Silver increased 6% to SEK 496.9 million (466.6) compared to the same period last year.
Deep Silver had a stable quarter, driven primarily by a strong back catalogue that exceeded management expectations with a solid performance of the evergreen franchises Metro and Saints Row-series as well as Maneater.
Milestone performed in line with management expectations, whereas the main revenue drivers in the quarter being newly released Ride 4 and MotoGP20 coupled with a stable back catalogue.
Vertigo Games' gross revenue was up by 40% YoY in third quarter (proforma compared to the calendar Q419) without a major product launch in the period.
During the quarter Koch Media/Deep Silver acquired Flying Wild Hog, the renowned and growing independent Polish developer of AA+ PC and console games such as the critically acclaimed Shadow Warrior series. The reputable team of 260+ people across three studios in Poland, adds a solid platform in an important and growing hub for game development in Europe.
STUDIOS
Deep Silver Dambuster Studios (Nottingham, U.K)
Milestone (Milan, Italy)
Voxler (Paris, France)
Warhorse Studio (Prague, Czech Republic)
Deep Silver FishLabs (Hamburg, Germany)Deep Silver Volition (Champaign, USA)
Vertigo Games (Rotterdam, Netherlands)Flying Wild Hog (Warszaw, Poland) (Krakow, Poland ) (Rzeszów, Poland)
PUBLISHERS
Deep Silver (Munich & London)
Milestone (Milan, Italy)
Ravenscourt (Munich, Germany)Vertigo Games (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Ride 4
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - SABER INTERACTIVE
Business Area: Games - Saber Interactive released the following new products in the quar-ter October-December 2020:
Title | Publishing Label | IP Owner | Platforms | Channels |
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition | Snapshot | Own | PC | Digital |
Net sales of Business Area: Games - Saber Interactive were SEK 307.0 million (-) during the quarter. Saber Interactive had a solid quarter, mainly driven by back catalogues sales as the quarter did not include any major release. Both World War Z and Snowrunner con-tinue to perform well. During the quarter Saber acquired five studios and one PR agency, all announced on November 18. All transactions except from Zen Studios were completed during the quarter.
• Zen Studios based in Budapest, Hungary, is a game developer and publisher of interac-tive entertainment for all major digital game platforms. Zen Studios is the producer behind the well-established Pinball FX and Zen Pinball franchises. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards a reputable team of 65 developers that has generated original titles alongside collaborations with some of the most well-known entertainment studios. The transaction was completed after the reporting quarter.
• Snapshot Games, based in USA and Bulgaria, is the independent video game developer behind premium strategy title Phoenix Point. Through the acquisition, Saber brings a repu-table studio of 65 people and well renowned IPs into the group.
• Nimble Giant Entertainment is the leading Latin American PC and console game developer with a reputable team of 75 people. Nimble Giant Entertainment has produced more than 30 titles over almost 2 decades and several own IP games, with two of the most important titles being Champions of Regnum and Quantum League. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards a sizable studio with extensive experience within the gaming industry.
• Mad Head Games, founded in 2011, based in Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, is an inde-pendent game developer led by three founders with a team of 130 people across four offices in Belgrade and Novi Sad.
• 34 Big Things is a game developer of premium games across PC, console and mobile devices. 34BT is renowned as the studio behind Redout which and has won a numerous of international awards. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards an experienced AA team based in Italy.
• Sandbox Strategies, based in New York, USA, is a PR and influencer relations agency, specialized in content creation for gaming and entertainment. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards an "earned media" business to collaborate on future innovative gaming content creation across the organization.
Saber has a large number of games under development and new ones being added with the large number of acquisitions.
Saber made another acquisition after the reporting quarter - by welcoming Aspyr Media to their vertical. Aspyr is an independent developer and publisher with more than 24 years experience in finding beloved IPs and connecting them with new audiences on all platforms. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards a team of 140 developers lead by the founders.
Saber Interactive keeps up the recruitment speed. Industry veteran Josh Austin joined during the quarter and is responsible to handle IP licensing/merchandising for Koch Media and Saber Interactive, but also to provide group level assistance where needed.
STUDIOS
Saber Interactive
(Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
Saint Petersburg, Russia. Alcobendas, Spain.
Sundsvall, Sweden. Minsk, Belarus)
Snapshot Games Sofia (Bulgaria)
PUBLISHERS
4A Games (Kiev, Ukraine) (Silema, Malta)
New World Interactive
(Calgary, Canada)
(Denver, USA)
Nimble Giant Entertainment
(Buenos Aires, Argentina)
34 Big Things (Turin, Italy)
Madhead Games (Novi Sad, Serbia)
Zen Studios
(Budapest, Hungary) Completed after the quarter.
Saber Interactive
(Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
Saint Petersburg, Russia. Alcobendas, Spain.
Sundsvall, Sweden. Minsk, Belarus.)
HQ
Stockholm, Sweden
STUDIOS 10 (1)
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - AMPLIFIER GAME INVEST
Business Area: Games - Amplifier Games Invest released the following new products in the quarter October-December 2020:
Title | Publishing Label IP Owner | Platforms | Channels |
Fishing North Atlantic | PC | Digital |
Misc
Own
Net sales for Amplifier amounted to SEK 12.6 million in the quarter and is reported within net sales of Business Area: Games - THQ Nordic.
Amplifier Game Invest screens and invests in internationally talented companies in the games industry. The strategy is to give top talented game developers full creative integrity, while offering financial and commercial support. The deal-flow has been good during the quarter. As of today Amplifier upholds 10 internal studios with an ambitious pipeline of game development projects.
Amplifier Game Invest's majority owned studio Misc Games released their Fishing North Atlantic. The launch underperformed compared to management expectations.
After the quarter Tarsier studios game Little Nightmares 2 was published external publisher and was well received by its audience. Tarsier studios will, from now on, focus on creating new IPs.
During the quarter Amplifier acquired the UK-based studio Silent Games. Founded in 2018, Silent Games is a game development studio based in Newcastle, one of northern England's foremost hubs for games and creative industries. With strong ties to game education at Teesside University, and a deep connection to the British Game Development community, the founders intend to grow Silent Games from the current team of four persons into a 30-person strong studio over the coming years.
In the quarter Amplifier invested into a new start up studio, Plucky Bytes with its base in Karlstad, run by 3 industry veterans.
Amplifier Game Invest has continued to strengthen the company's capacity through addi-tional recruitments during and after the quarter.
STUDIOS
STUDIOS
Vermila Studios (Madrid, Spain)
Palindrome Interactive
(Skövde, Sweden)
Tarsier Studios (Malmö, Sweden)
Destiny Bit (Ravenna, Italy)
Rare Earth Games (Vienna, Austria)Misc Games (Sandnes, Norway)C77 (Belleveue, USA)River End Games (Gothenburg, Sweden)Silent Games (Newcastle, UK)Plucky Bytes (Karlstad, Sweden)
DICE Legacy
HQ
Berlin, Germany
INTERNAL HEADCOUNT 151 (-)
STUDIOS 3 (-)
BUSINESS AREA: GAMES - DECA GAMES
Net sales of Business Area: DECA Games were SEK 72.7 million (-) during the quarter.
DECA Games had a stable first quarter within the Group after joining as the sixth opera-tive group on August 13, 2020. DECA is a growing ecosystem of free-to-play development studios and publishers with a focus on an asset care strategy to mobile and PC free-to-play with live ops games.
During the quarter DECA Games grew through the addition of two quality mobile studios: A Thinking Ape and IUGO Entertainment, both based in Vancouver, Canada. These transac-tions were by 31 dec 2020 not closed, but are expected to be closed in the fourth quarter. Each of the new studios have one new original IP game in development that is expected to be released during the calendar year 2021. In addition, DECA plans to expand the portfo-lio by acquiring at least one new IP in the near term and IUGO continues its work for hire business.
Overall, the performance in the third quarter was stable, primarly driven by the acquisition of new products, DragonVale, Almost a Hero, and Gods and Glory. The three new products added to the overall results but performed slightly lower than management expectation.
Realm of the Mad God continued to performed well, while DragonVale underperformed in relation to management expectation as new content updates were delayed.
STUDIOS & PUBLISHERS
Deca Games Bulgaria (Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria)
Deca Games Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
Deca Games
IUGO
(remote)
(Vancouver, Canada)
A Thinking Ape (Vancouver, Canada)
Announced 18 Nov. 2020. Not completed transaction.
Announced 18 Nov. 2020.
Not completed transaction.
Realm of the Mad God
HQ
Munich, Germany
INTERNAL HEADCOUNT
1,918 (1,359) Film+Koch Media incl.
BUSINESS AREA: PARTNER PUBLISHING/FILM
Net sales in the Partner Publishing/Film business area increased 21% to SEK 812.5 million (672.9) compared to the same period last year and sales were above management expec-tations.
The Partner Publishing business had multiple revenue drivers in the third quarter such as Dirt5, Yakuza 7, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate. Other releases in the quarter included Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory and Chronos: Before the Ashes.
A strong performance in the end of quarter were assessed to be driven by consumers' demand patterns affected by the covid-19 pandemic. While the lockdown had already significantly impacted the retail landscape in the previous quarter, the current quarter was dominated by recovery and increasing numbers of offline customers in the Partner Publishing business segment.
Looking ahead, current quarter ending march will not include any notable releases with a significant commercial impact. We expect a period with a lower commercial activity. Releases for Q4 FY 20/21 includes Hitman 3, Persona 5 Strikers, Balan Wonderworld and Surviving the Aftermath.
The film business overall had a strong quarter above management expectation. Digital sales where at high levels, whereas physical sales suffered from the covid-19 lockdowns. Highlights in the quarter include the successful theatrical event release of Pantaní, a new exclusive distribution contract with Paramount, for the territory of Italy, including all new releases, theatrical and catalogue titles and notable TV-agreements with the Italian broad-casters Sky and RAI.
Koch Film's B2C subscription channel, "Aniverse" on Amazon Prime video channels, is continuing to exceed management expectations and the YouTube channel for movie streaming "Moviedome" has after the successful launch reached more than 80 thousands subscribers in the first two month.
Sola Media performed in line with management expectations. Both Dreambuilders and Elf-ins continued to perform well. The pandemic causes slowdown in sales but two new titles have been licensed to North America and the pipeline of new European projects is strong.
HQ
Karlstad, Sweden
INTERNAL HEADCOUNT 13 (13)
Game Outlet, the retro niche distributor of retro-products and deep back catalogue games, had another stable quarter, mainly driven by strong back catalgoue sales. The strong demand for gaming software and peripherals has contributed to this quarters sales, boosted by the covid-19 pandemic, especially the e-commerce. The physical video game publishers are showing an increasing demand for back catalogue business, and under-stand its importance more than ever. During the quarter, Game Outlet added additional titles to its already extensive back catalogue.
HQ
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
INTERNAL HEADCOUNT 351 (-)
Embracer Group aquired 95 percent of the shares in Quantic Lab SRL during the quarter. Quantic Lab, based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, is a software outsourcing company spe-cialized in Quality Assurance ("QA"), localization and User Experience for gaming and applications. Quantic Lab was founded in 2006 by Stefan Seicarescu, current CEO, and has since grown, from being a start-up with a small team of 12 persons, into a leading QA company with more than 60 active clients and more than 350 employees in 3 office loca-tions in Romania and 1 office in UK. The first weeks has been focused on the integration and onboarding.
ONGOING DEVELOPMENT AND UPCOMING RELEASES
The Company invested SEK 523 million in its growing ongoing game development pipeline that will be driving growth and profitability in the coming years.
The finalized value of the completed and released games during the quarter were SEK 156 million driven by the releases of Aquanox Deep Descent, Spellforce 3: Fallen God Add-On, Comanche, MXGP2020 and Lets Sing 2021.
VALUE AND INVESTMENTS, GAME DEVELOPMENT
The value of completed (released) games consists of the investments that generated the quarter's revenue from games released during the quarter. The amount decreased in Q3 due to few major launches of owned games in the quarter. At the same time, SEK 523 million was invested in game development, the highest amount ever in a single quarter. These investments lay the foundation for growing revenues from future launches.
SEK million 600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Value of finalized game develompent
Q5 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
18/19 | 19/20 | 19/20 | 19/20 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 20/21 | 20/21 |
Investments in game development
RELEASES AFTER THE END OF THE QUARTER
During the period January 1, 2021 until February 18, 2021, the following titles were released:
Title
Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated
Titan Quest - Legendary Edition
Gods Will Fall
Redout: Space Assault Valheim - Early Access Snowrunner Season 3 DLC Redout Space Assault Ride 4
Publishing
Label IP Owner Platforms
HandyGames License
HandyGames Own
MXGP 2020
Mobile
MobileDeep Silver 34BigThings Coffee Stain External Saber Milestone MilestoneExternal Own External Own OwnPC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch DigitalPC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch PC
PS4, Xbox One
PC, PS4, Xbox One, SwitchOwn PS5
Own PS5
ANNOUNCED RELEASES AS OF FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Publishing
Title Label
Biomutant THQ Nordic
Monster Jam THQ Nordic - Steel Titans 2
Kingdoms of Amalur - Re-reckoning
Kingdoms of Amalur Expansion: Fatesworn
Gothic - Remake
THQ Nordic
THQ Nordic
THQ Nordic
Knights of Honor II: Sovereign THQ NordicScarf Townsmen VR
El Hijo - A Wild West Tale A Rat´s Quest
One Hand Clapping
IP Owner Platforms
Own License
Own
OwnTHQ Nordic
Own Own External
HandyGames Own HandyGames External HandyGames External HandyGames External
Endling - Extinction is Forever HandyGames ExternalAirhead Pile Up!
Midnight Ghost Hunt Songs of Conquest Satisfactory Update 4 DICE Legacy
HandyGames External HandyGames External
Dead Island 2 Iron Harvest Phoenix Point Proto Corgi Chorus
Coffee Stain Coffee Stain Coffee Stain Deep Silver Deep Silver Deep Silver Deep Silver Ravenscourt Deep Silver
Monster Energy Supercross 4 MilestoneMotoGP21
Evil dead the Game Sandstorm
PC, PS4, Xbox OnePC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Digital & Physical Stadia
Switch
PS4, Xbox One, PC
PC, PS5, XBX
PC
PC
PC, PS4
PS4, Xbox One, SwitchPC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch DigitalPC, PS4, Xbox One, SwitchPC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Digital & Physical PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Digital
Shared Own Own Own Own Own Own External OwnPC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch PC
PC PC PC TBC
PS4, Xbox One, PS5, XBX PS4, Xbox One
PC, Switch
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XBX
Own
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XBX, Stadia
Milestone
Own
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XBX, XBS, Switch
Saber External
License Own
PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XBX PS4, Xbox One
For latest release dates please refer to above mentioned publishers.
Channels
Digital
DigitalDigital Digital Digital Digital
Digital & Physical Digital & Physical
Channels
Digital & PhysicalDigital & Physical
Digital
Digital & Physical Digital & Physical Digital
Digital DigitalDigitalDigital Digital Digital Digital Digital
Digital & Physical Digital & Physical Digital & Physical Digital
Digital
Digital & Physical
Digital & Physical
Digital & Physical Digital & Physical
EVENTS AFTER THE QUARTER
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER THE QUARTER
> On February 3, Embracer Group announced the following:
• A merger agreement with US based The Gearbox Entertainment Company. Gearbox, based in Frisco, Texas and founded in 1999, has been self-funded by the employees from inception. Founder and CEO Randy Pitchford will continue to lead Gearbox, and will together with the employees of Gearbox become a significant shareholder in Embracer. Gearbox brings highly creative AAA development studios, North American publishing capabilities and a robust IP portfolio, including critically acclaimed and iconic franchises like Borderlands, Brothers in Arms and Homeworld. The day one purchase price amounts to USD 363 million in total, on a cash and debt free basis, of which USD 175 million is paid in newly issued Embracer B shares and the residual in cash. Subject to fulfilment of agreed financial and operational targets in the next six years, an additional consideration of maximum USD 1,015 million may be paid, of which a maximum of USD 360 million in issued Embracer B shares and the residual in cash. To earn the maximum consideration, USD 1,378 million the accumulated Adjusted EBITDA, including expensed development costs, must exceed USD 1,300 million over six years. Post-closing, Gearbox will become a seventh operating group as a wholly own subsidiary of Embracer.
• The merge with Cyprus-based Easybrain Limited in an all-equity transaction for a day one purchase price of USD 640 million on a cash and debt free basis plus a maximum of USD 125 million in additional consideration. Easybrain is a leading mobile game developer with a core focus on advertising-based puzzle and logic games. Easybrain's titles have more than 750 million installs to date and 12 million daily active users across 15 live games. Easybrain's senior management, Peter Skoromnyi, Matvey Timoshenko and Oleg Grushevich, will post-closing, jointly become the third largest shareholder in Embracer. Easybrain will become Embracer's eighth operative group as a wholly owned subsidiary and continue to be led by its existing management.
• The acquisition of American Aspyr Media Inc, through its wholly owned subsidiary Saber
Interactive. The sellers are the founders Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch. The day one purchase price amounts to USD 100 million on a cash and debt free basis, where USD 60 million is paid in cash and USD 40 million is paid in newly issued Embracer B shares. An additional consideration of a maximum of USD 350 million may be paid under the agree-ment subject to certain conditions. Aspyr is an independent developer and publisher with more than 24 years experience in finding beloved IPs and connecting them with new audiences on all platforms. Aspyr with its 140-person strong team will be a stand-alone entity under Saber Interactive.
> Koch Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Embracer Group AB, entered the 20th of
January into an agreement of conciliation with the European Commission concerning the geo-blocking case, stated in the press release published by THQ Nordic AB (today Embracer Group AB) 2019-04-05. Koch Media's settlement costs are fully covered within the original provision.
IFRS CONVERSION AND REGULATED MARKET
The Board of directors decided on the Board Meeting 17th of February to convert to the reporting standard IFRS and thereby start the process to become listed on a regulated market.
The work will be done through execution of a project, which is centered around three workstreams; Financial Reporting & Principles, Internal Control Process and Corporate Governance structure, with a clear ambition to achieve industry leading efficiency and transparency for each workstream throughout the Embracer Group while maintaining a well-balanced approach to Embracer´s decentralized strategy. The workstreams are split in phases with clear milestones. The overall timeline for the process is estimated to between 18 and 36 months where timing is dependent on the pace of training, recruiting, and onboarding of key employees and the need for business support and financial inte-gration of future mergers and acquisitions.
The first set of milestones within the Corporate Governance structure workstream was implemented 17th February with the decision to establish an Audit Committee and a Remuneration Committee, to become effective immediately.
OTHER INFORMATION
SUSTAINABILITY AND GOVERNANCE
During the quarter, the sustainability focus has been on encouraging more employees to participate and complete the compliance code training, which was first initiated in autumn 2020. By the end of 2020, more than half of our total headcount had completed the training.
The training enables us to ensure awareness across the global group of our shared princi-ples of integrity, quality, and social responsibility and it is essential for us when operating internally and externally with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. The annual compliance code training includes all areas of the code, divided into three sections. The first one; conduct in business, covering the following: compliance with law, anti-corruption and bribes, preventing money laundering, respect of trade embargos, integrity in reporting and inside trading, conflicts of interests, utilization and protection of assets and resources, confidential information and representing Embracer Group. Section two reflects the conduct toward employees and colleagues. This is essential and stated through sections addressing equal treatment and non-discrimination, human and labor rights, and occupa-tional health and safety. The last part focuses on interaction in society; environment and climate, behavior in public and communications, guidelines for social media, security and data privacy/protection. The training also assures us that our employees understand that if there is a breach of the Code and the concerns are of a sensitive nature or a serious devi-ation, we encourage them to report through our external whistleblowing service (WhistleB) anonymously.
Profound discussions with HR departments in our operative groups were conducted to clarify needs and opportunities existing within Embracer. The discussions have also touched talent development, employee surveys and how to create even healthier work-places. The ambassador program was extended with new members who contribute to the ongoing sustainability agenda to improve our identified focus areas. Monthly meetings are held to address all areas of ESG, and initiatives are being shared and started. Our frame-work, "Smarter business" is underpinning four pillars; Business Sense, Solid Work, Great People and Greener Planet - that help us focus our efforts and work. During the quarter, the ambassadors collaborated in groups divided by the various pillars' focus areas. This commitment has arisen in initiatives and projects, such as recruitment, accessibility, inclu-sion, data protection, and green offices. The ambassador program consists of representa-tives from all operative groups with diverse background skills and roles.
A global trade compliance policy was adopted in December and implemented at the begin-ning of 2021, including training and sessions for management teams in all operative groups as part of the implementation plan.
Our Anti-corruption policy and our compliance code are available at our website embracer.com. The policies apply to all companies and employees in the Embracer Group. The state-ments also apply to any individual or entity when acting for or on behalf of the Embracer Group, including but not limited to all representatives, agents, subcontractors and third parties.
Onboarding new companies is a continual progression, handled by a team from Embracer Group and external industry-leading advisors. A clear structure of the imple-mentation of global policies and our sustainability framework Smarter Business plays an important role in the process. During the quarter, we initiated the onboarding with the announced acquisitions from November, while previously acquired companies went through their respective new phases in the onboarding. Embracer Group has recruited Martin Hogen as responsible for the onboarding and integration process together with industry-leading advisors.
ANALYSTS FOLLOWING EMBRACER GROUP
AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020
Company | Name | Phone | |
Carnegie | Oscar Erixon | +46 8 58 86 89 73 | oscar.erixon@carnegie.se |
Berenberg | Benjamin May | +44 20 346 52 667 | benjamin.may@berenberg.com |
SEB | Mathias Lundberg | +46 8 522 297 94 | mathias.lundberg@seb.se |
Bernstein | Matti Littunen | +44 207 170 50 09 | matti.littunen@bernstein.com |
Nordea Markets | Erik Lindholm-Röjestål | +46 101 570 310 | erik.lindholm-rojestal@nordea.com |
Pareto Securities | Marlon Värnik | - | marlon.varnik@paretosec.com |
Handelsbanken | Fredrik Olsson | - | frol16@handelsbanken.se |
Redeye | Tomas Otterbeck | - | tomas.otterbeck@redeye.se |
ABG Sundal Collier | Jesper Birch-Jensen | +46 8 566 286 13 | Jesper.Birch-Jensen@abgsc.se |
Citi | Thomas A Singlehurst | +44 20 7986 4051 | thomas.singlehurst@citi.com |
Kepler Cheuvreux | Hjalmar Ahlberg | +46 708 62 50 79 | hahlberg@keplercheuvreux.com |
Goldman Sachs | Alexander Duval | - | alexander.duval@gs.com |
Note: Redeye and ABG Sundal Collier are commissioned by Embracer Group.
At Embracer.com we provide an IR service providing consensus estimates. The estimates are collected by Infront and based on predictions made by analysts who cover Embracer Group.
THE SHARE
Change fromTOP 10 OWNERS, AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020
Sept. 30, 2020
Name | shares | ||
Lars Wingefors AB | 26,130,102 | 104,705,965 | 30.94% |
Matthew Karch and Andrey Iones | 6,399,137 | 35,386,220 | 9.88% |
Swedbank Robur Funds | 27,336,119 | 6.46% | |
Handelsbanken Funds | 17,461,672 | 4.13% | |
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) | 12,933,153 | 3.06% | |
Didner & Gerge Funds | 11,011,244 | 2.60% | |
ODIN Funds | 8,300,000 | 1.96% | |
AMF Pension & Funds | 7,000,000 | 1.66% | |
Ken Go | 6,301,591 | 1.49% | |
Avanza Pension | 5,983,006 | 1.41% | |
TOTAL TOP 10 | 32,529,239 | 236,418,970 | 63.55% |
ALL OTHER SHAREHOLDERS | 869,898 | 153,414,531 | 36.45% |
TOTAL | 33,399,137 | 389,833,501 | 100.00% |
Source: Holdings by Modular Finance. |
Class A
Class B Share of | Share of | Class A and B |
shares capital, % | votes, % | shares |
50.59% | 22,760,470 | |
13.74% | ||
3.78% | 1,684,251 | |
2.41% | -1,127,126 | |
1.79% | 12,933,153 | |
1.52% | -222,604 | |
1.15% | 3,000,000 | |
0.97% | 7,000,000 | |
0.87% | ||
0.83% | 1,710,137 | |
77.60% | ||
22.40% | ||
100.00% |
TOP 20 MANAGEMENT & CO-FOUNDER OWNERS, AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020
Class A | Class B | Share of | Share of | ||
Owner | Co-Founder | shares | shares | capital, % | votes, % |
Lars Wingefors AB 1) | Embracer Group | 26,130,102 | 104,705,965 | 30.91% | 50.57% |
Matthew Karch and Andrey Iones | Saber Interactive | 6,399,137 | 35,386,220 | 9.87% | 13.73% |
Ken Go | Deca Games | 0 | 6,301,591 | 1.49% | 0.87% |
Erik Stenberg | Embracer Group | 0 | 4,500,000 | 1.06% | 0.62% |
Luisa Bixio | Milestone | 0 | 3,151,969 | 0.74% | 0.44% |
Founders | 4A Games | 0 | 2,466,070 | 0.58% | 0.34% |
Richard Stitselaar and Kimara Rouwit | Vertigo Games | 0 | 1,928,210 | 0.46% | 0.27% |
Pelle Lundborg | Embracer Group | 869,898 | 769,649 | 0.39% | 1.31% |
Anton Westbergh | Coffee Stain | 0 | 1,206,333 | 0.29% | 0.17% |
Klemens Kundratitz | Koch Media | 0 | 1,127,928 | 0.27% | 0.16% |
Vincent Van Brummen | Vertigo Games | 0 | 747,851 | 0.18% | 0.10% |
Klemens Kreuzer | THQ Nordic | 0 | 559,052 | 0.13% | 0.08% |
John Coleman | Vertigo Games | 0 | 406,956 | 0.10% | 0.06% |
Stefan Ljungqvist | Experiment 101 | 0 | 270,270 | 0.06% | 0.04% |
Julian Gollop | Snapshot Games | 0 | 322,317 | 0.08% | 0.04% |
David L Adams | Gunfire Games | 0 | 217,719 | 0.05% | 0.03% |
David Kaye | Snapshot Games | 0 | 201,227 | 0.05% | 0.03% |
Reinhard Pollice | THQ Nordic | 0 | 200,000 | 0.05% | 0.03% |
Martin Klima | Warhorse Studios | 0 | 185,730 | 0.04% | 0.03% |
Janne Alanenpää | Bugbear Studios | 0 | 181,074 | 0.04% | 0.03% |
TOP 20 | 33,399,137 | 164,836,131 | 46.84% | 68.92% | |
ALL OTHER SHAREHOLDERS | 0 | 224,997,370 | 53.16% | 31.08% | |
TOTAL | 33,399,137 | 389,833,501 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
1) Lars Wingefors et al. For more information, please see: embracer.com/release/embracer-groups-co-founders-complete-consolidation-of-shareholdings/
Holdings by management above are in general owned trough various wholly owned companies.
TOP 50 INSTITUTIONAL OWNERS, AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020
Name
Swedbank Robur Funds 27,336,119 6.46%
Handelsbanken Funds 17,461,672 4.13%
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) 12,933,153 3.06%
Didner & Gerge Funds 11,011,244 2.60%
ODIN Funds 8,300,000 1.96%
AMF Pension & Funds 7,000,000 1.66%
Avanza Pension 5,983,006 1.41%
TIN Funds 5,606,869 1.33%
AP1 Första AP-fonden 4,920,256 1.16%
AP2 Andra AP-fonden 3,679,982 0.87%
Livförsäkringsbolaget Skandia 3,382,339 0.80%
Futur Pension 3,124,257 0.74%
Skandia Funds 2,927,696 0.69%
Janus Henderson Investors 2,918,038 0.69%
AFA Försäkring 2,890,709 0.68%
BlackRock 2,801,241 0.66%
Martin Larsson (Chalex AB) 2,537,899 0.60%
Danske Invest (Lux) 2,188,000 0.52%
Nordnet Pensionsförsäkring 1,896,962 0.45%
Länsförsäkringar Funds 1,853,560 0.44%
DNB Funds 1,649,341 0.39%
Sensor Funds 1,346,092 0.32%
Naventi Funds 1,228,591 0.29%
Aktia Asset Management 1,160,000 0.27%
Vanguard 1,084,470 0.26%
Global X Management Company LLC 1,078,199 0.25%
Allianz Global Investors 1,059,664 0.25%
Svenska Handelsbanken AB for PB 975,479 0.23%
Highclere International Investors LLP 928,088 0.22%
RAM Rational Asset Management 789,317 0.19%
Consensus Asset Management 860,000 0.20%
Evli Funds 856,000 0.20%
Fondita Funds 810,000 0.19%
Schroders 794,172 0.19%
Amundi 662,001 0.16%
Knutsson Holdings AB 650,000 0.15%
Handelsbanken Liv Försäkring AB 629,827 0.15%
Dan Sten Olsson Family and Foundation 600,000 0.14%
Lancelot Asset Management AB 657,002 0.16%
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company 600,000 0.14%
Kuwait Investment Authority 585,000 0.14%
Carnegie Funds 566,942 0.13%
State Street Global Advisors 564,401 0.13%
UBS Global Asset Management 570,053 0.13%
Van Eck 549,468 0.13%
Nordea Funds (Lux) 479,654 0.11%
Cliens Funds 480,000 0.11%
Northern Trust 508,114 0.12%
Deka Investments 462,638 0.11%
First Trust 462,413 0.11%
TOTAL TOP 50 INSTITUTIONAL OWNERS ALL OTHER SHAREHOLDERS
TOTAL
Source: Holdings by Modular Finance.
INTERNATIONAL OWNERSHIP TOP 50 INSTITUTIONAL
0 154,399,928 33,399,137 235,433,573 33,399,137 389,833,501
Change from | ||
Sept. 30, 2020 | ||
Class B Share of | Share of | |
shares capital, % | votes, % | shares |
3.78% | 1,684,251 | |
2.41% | -1,127,126 | |
1.79% | 12,933,153 | |
1.52% | -222,604 | |
1.15% | 3,000,000 | |
0.97% | 7,000,000 | |
0.83% | 1,710,137 | |
0.77% | 1,550,000 | |
0.68% | - | |
0.51% | 263,771 | |
0.47% | 168,258 | |
0.43% | 367,373 | |
0.40% | 957,846 | |
0.40% | -8,941 | |
0.40% | 878,720 | |
0.39% | 630,405 | |
0.35% | 5,000 | |
0.30% | -94,000 | |
0.26% | 438,416 | |
0.26% | -20,954 | |
0.23% | -206,273 | |
0.19% | 245,000 | |
0.17% | 104,224 | |
0.16% | 150,458 | |
0.15% | 48,962 | |
0.15% | 323,850 | |
0.15% | -93,929 | |
0.13% | -6,084 | |
0.13% | -129,169 | |
0.11% | - | |
0.12% | 150,000 | |
0.12% | 91,000 | |
0.11% | -110,000 | |
0.11% | -33,828 | |
0.09% | -181,013 | |
0.09% | - | |
0.09% | 140,028 | |
0.08% | -3,445,004 | |
0.09% | 57,002 | |
0.08% | -75,000 | |
0.08% | -165,000 | |
0.08% | 51,942 | |
0.08% | 169,593 | |
0.08% | 24,579 | |
0.08% | 104,876 | |
0.07% | -48,320 | |
0.07% | 480,000 | |
0.07% | 146,884 | |
0.06% | 24,883 | |
0.06% | 212,254 | |
21.33% | ||
78.67% | ||
100.00% |
Class A sharesClass B
36.48% 63.52% 100.00%
INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP VS MANAGEMENT
BY CAPITAL
Other shareholders 16.7%
INFORMATION ABOUT NASDAQ FIRST NORTH GROWTH MARKET
Nasdaq First North Growth Market ("First North") is an alternative marketplace operated by the constituent exchanges of Nasdaq Stockholm. It does not have the same legal status as a regulated marketplace. Companies quoted on First North are subject to First North's rules, rather than the legal requirements set for trading on a regulated marketplace. An investment in a company trading on First North implies higher risk than one in a company listed on a regulated market. Companies must apply to the exchange and gain approval before trading on First North can commence. A Certified Adviser guides the company through the listing process and also ensures that the company continuously satisfies First North's standards.
FNCA Sweden AB is Embracer Group's certified adviser who may be contacted at:info@fnca.seor +46-8-528 00 399.
RISKS AND UNCERTAINTY FACTORS
Embracer Group is exposed to risks, particularly the dependence on key persons, depen-dence of the success of game development, the sales performance of launched games, dependence on a few distributors and the success and performance of acquisitions. The complete risk analysis is found in the company's most recent Annual Report.
ACCOUNTING AND VALUATION POLICIES
This Interim Report has been prepared in accordance with the Swedish Annual Accounts Act. The accounting and valuation policies applied are consistent with the Swedish Account-ing Standards Board's Category 3 (BFN K3) regulation and are unchanged since the latest published Annual Accounts, and the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's BFNAR 2012:1.
The Company's accounting policies are stated in its most recent Annual Report.
Amounts are reported in Swedish kronor, rounded to the nearest million unless otherwise stated. Rounding to the nearest million may mean that amounts are not consistent when added. Amounts and figures stated in brackets are comparatives for the corresponding period of the previous year.
AUDITOR'S REVIEW
This Interim Report has not been subject to review by the Company's auditor.
FORTHCOMING REPORTS
Full Year Report 2020/2021 | 20 May, 2021 |
Interim Report Q1, April-June 2021 | 18 August, 2021 |
Annual General Meeting 2020/2021 | 16 September 2021 |
Interim Report Q2, July-September 2021 | 17 November 2021 |
Interim Report Q3, April-December 2022 | 17 February 2022 |
FOR MORE INFORMATION |
Find more information about the Company at its website: embracer.com
For any questions on this report, please contact:
Lars Wingefors, Co-founder & CEO,lars.wingefors@embracer.com
SIGNATURES AND ASSURANCE
The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer offer their assurance that this Interim Report gives a true and fair view of the Group's and Parent Company's operations, financial position and results of operations and describes the significant risks and uncertainties facing the Group and Parent Company.
Karlstad, Sweden, February 18, 2021
Kicki Wallje-Lund
Chairman of the Board
David Gardner | Ulf Hjalmarsson | Jacob Jonmyren |
Matthew Karch | Erik Stenberg | Lars Wingefors |
Chief Executive Officer |
This Interim Report is information that is mandatory for Embracer Group to make public pursuant to the EU Market
Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 06:00 CET on February 18, 2021
CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT
SEK m
Net sales
Work performed by the Company for its own use and capitalized
Other operating income
Profit from revaluation of associated companies Total operating income
Operating expenses Goods for resale
Other external expenses Personnel expenses
Depreciation, amortization and impairment of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets
Total operating expenses
Profit from participation in associated companies 3.2
2,168.1 372.5 59.3 | 1,508.5 220.9 72.0 | 6,620.0 893.8 187.9 41.4 |
2,599.9 -861.3 -409.2 -488.4 -939.5 | 1,801.4 -746.7 -231.4 -305.0 -427.4 | 7,743.1 -2,655.3 -1,061.1 -1,265.9 -2,481.1 |
-2,698.5 37.9 | -1,710.5 | -7,463.5 52.2 |
-60.8 46.0 -37.1 | 91.0 -15.2 0.6 | 331.7 160.4 -96.9 |
8.9 -51.8 -51.8 -59.3 -78.4 | -14.7 76.3 76.3 -49.9 7.2 | 63.5 395.3 395.3 -221.9 -44.6 |
-189.5 -190.7 1.2 -0.45 419 | 128.8 128.4 0.4 0.33 389 |
Operating profit
Profit from financial items Other interest income, etc. Other interest expenses, etc.
Total financial items
Profit after financial items
Profit before tax
Current income tax Deferred tax
Net profit for the period
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent Non-controlling interests
Earnings per share, SEK
Average number of outstanding shares, million
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
3,910.3 5,249.4
528.7 752.8
183.9 305.9
4,622.9
6,308.1
-1,909.8
-2,576.0
-600.7
-784.0
-786.4 -1,130.0
-1,077.3 -1,475.9
-4,374.2 -5,965.9
248.8 345.4
2.8 94.3
-12.1 -30.9
-9.4 63.4
239.4 408.8
239.4 408.8
-109.1
-140.7
20.8
15.2
151.1 283.3
151.7 284.9
-0.6 -1.6
0.49 0.91
310 311
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
SEK m | Dec 31, 2020 | Dec 31, 2019 | Mar 31, 2020 |
Intangible assets | 14,686.2 | 5,633.0 | 5,870.9 |
Property, plant & equipment | 230.0 | 169.0 | 184.5 |
Financial assets | 366.5 | 200.8 | 251.1 |
Inventories | 279.3 | 387.1 | 352.8 |
Current receivables | 1,878.0 | 1,570.1 | 1,467.6 |
Cash and bank balance | 6,919.1 | 2,784.7 | 2,510.3 |
Total assets | 24,359.1 | 10,744.7 | 10,637.2 |
Share capital | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
Other capital reserves | 19,067.8 | 5,300.0 | 5,300.5 |
Recognized profit including profit for the period | -344.0 | 876.3 | 1,093.9 |
Provisions | 1,931.3 | 1,306.1 | 1,241.0 |
Non-current liabilities | 267.3 | 208.7 | 221.8 |
Current liabilities | 3,435.5 | 3,052.7 | 2,779.1 |
Total liabilities and equity | 24,359.1 | 10,744.7 | 10,637.2 |
Interest-bearing receivables amount to | 6,919.1 | 2,784.7 | 2,510.3 |
Interest-bearing liabilities amount to | 2,041.4 | 1,946.6 | 1,490.9 |
28 | |||
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020 |
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
Other paid-up | Other equity | Minority | Consolidated | ||
SEK m | Share capital | capital | including net profit | interest | equity |
Amount as of April 1, 2020 | 0.9 | 5,300.5 | 1,068.8 | 25.1 | 6,395.3 |
Translation difference | -1,374.5 | -1,374.5 | |||
New share issue | 0.3 | 13,785.1 | 13,785.4 | ||
Issue costs 1) | -151.6 | -151.6 | |||
Tax effect | 32.6 | 32.6 | |||
Transaction between owners | -78.5 | -12.5 | -91.0 | ||
Net profit | 128.4 | 0.4 | 128.8 | ||
Amount as of December 31, 2020 | 1.2 | 18,966.6 | -255.8 | 13.0 | 18,725.0 |
1) Issue costs constitutes of cost of rights issue SEK -151.6 million and tax effects of the cost SEK 32.6 million.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
SEK m
Cash flow from operating activities before changes in working capital
Change in working capital
Cash flow from operating activities
Cash flow from investing activities
Net investment in acquired companies Net investment in intangible assets Net investment in tangible assets Net investment in financial assets
Cash flow from financing activities Cash flow for the period
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period Translation difference in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
847.0 -6.6 | 552.0 -312.5 | 2,568.8 -191.6 |
840.4 -2,308.2 -557.7 -23.6 50.0 5,404.2 | 239.5 -88.2 -419.0 -8.8 -19.0 229.3 | 2,377.2 -4,185.9 -1,536.2 -52.6 36.0 7,858.2 |
3,405.1 3,579.1 -65.1 6,919.1 | 4,496.7 2,510.3 -87.9 6,919.1 |
Apr-Dec 2019
1,219.6 -257.0 962.6
-891.1
-1,189.0 -1,653.4
-28.0 -42.4
-21.4 -32.6
-134.8 -432.3
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
1,604.2
124.1 1,728.3
-905.7
1,032.1 473.5
2,929.1
2,929.1
-9.6 2,784.7
13.5 2,510.3
PARENT COMPANY INCOME STATEMENT
SEK m
Net sales
Other operating income Total operating income
Operating expenses Other external expenses Personnel expenses
Depreciation, amortization and impairment of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets
Total operating expenses
Operating profit
Result from financial assets Interest income, etc. Interest expenses, etc.
Total financial income/expenses
Profit after financial items
Appropriations
Profit before tax Current income tax Deferred tax
Net profit for the period
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
185.4 0.0 | 109.7 -1.8 | 628.1 0.0 |
185.4 -23.5 -5.3 -105.4 | 107.9 -7.4 -4.1 -76.9 | 628.1 -49.6 -15.3 -323.0 |
-134.2 51.2 0.1 49.1 -469.3 | -88.5 19.4 -0.2 -13.3 3.9 | -387.9 240.3 2.7 60.1 -864.9 |
-420.1 -369.0 0.0 -369.0 0.0 71.1 | -9.6 9.8 0.0 9.8 -2.2 0.0 | -802.1 -561.9 0.0 -561.9 0.0 112.9 |
-297.9 | -449.0 |
Apr-Dec 2019
393.9 495.9
0.9 11.1
394.9 507.0
-18.1 -64.3
-8.1 -12.8
-248.1 -333.3
-274.2 -410.4
120.6 96.6
4.4 39.7
14.1 83.0
-6.5 -21.5
12.0 101.2
132.7 197.8
0.0 -60.0
132.7 137.8
-29.2
0.0 103.5
CONDENSED PARENT COMPANY BALANCE SHEET
SEK m
Intangible assets Tangible assets Financial assets Current receivables Cash and bank balance Total assets
Equity
Untaxed reserves Provisions Long-term liabilities Current liabilities
Total liabilities and equity
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
Dec 31, 2020
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
-29.7
0.0 108.1
Dec 31, 2019
Mar 31, 2020
SELECTED KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS - GROUP
Financial metrics defined or specified pursuant to Swedish Accounting Standards Board standards (BFNAR)
Net sales, SEK m
Operating profit, SEK m Profit before tax, SEK m Profit after tax, SEK m
Number of shares at end of period, thousands 1) Average number of outstanding shares, thousands 1) Average number of full-time employees in the period Number of employees at the end of the period
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
2,168.1 -60.8 -51.8 -189.5 423,233 419,150 3,587 4,150 | 6,620.0 331.7 395.3 128.8 423,233 388,529 2,908 4,150 |
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
3,910.3 5,249.4
248.8 345.4
239.4 408.8
151.5 283.3
312,067 312,067
309,800 311,411
1,494 1,663
1,679 1,873
Alternative key performance indicators not defined or specified pursuant to BFNAR
Net sales growth, %
EBITDA, SEK m EBITDA margin, % Operational EBIT, SEK m EBIT, SEK m
EBIT margin, % Equity/assets ratio, %
Adjusted earnings per share, SEK 1) Earnings per share, SEK 1) Dividend per share, SEK
Derivation of the alternative KPIs, operational EBIT and EBITDA
EBIT, SEK m
Amortization expenses added back to Operational EBIT
- Goodwill, SEK m
- Intellectual property (IP) rights, SEK m
- Surplus value of Partner Publishing/Film, SEK m
Revaluation of shares in associated companies Operational EBIT, SEK m
Oct-Dec 2020
Oct-Dec 2019
Apr-Dec 2020
- Other depreciation and amortization expenses, SEK m Revaluation of shares in associated companies EBITDA, SEK m
44 878.7 41 603.1 -60.8 -3 77 1.06 -0.45 0.0 | 9 518.4 34 302.1 91.0 6 57 0.68 0.11 0.0 | 69 2,812.9 42 1,967.6 331.7 5 77 4.33 0.33 0.0 |
-60.8 536.0 117.9 10.0 0.0 | 91.0 77.5 122.8 10.8 0.0 | 331.7 1,312.5 324.3 40.4 -41.4 |
603.1 275.6 0.0 | 302.1 216.3 0.0 | 1,967.6 803.9 41.4 |
878.7 | 2,812.9 |
Apr-Dec 2019
Apr 2019-
Mar 2020
12
1,326.1
1,821.3
34
35
747.0
1,033.0
248.8
345.4
6 7
57 60
1.85 2.81
0.49 0.91
0.0 0.0
248.8 345.4
174.7 285.1
292.5 359.4
31.0 43.1
0.0 0.0
747.0 1,033.0
579.1 788.3
0.0 0.0
1,326.1
1,821.3
1) Recalculated with respect to the 3:1 split carried out on October 8, 2019 as resolved at the annual general meeting on September 17, 2019. Number of shares for previous periods have been adjusted.
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
3
DEFINITIONS OF ALTERNATIVE KPI's
Embracer Group's definitions of a number of alternative KPI's used in this Interim Report are stated below. Net sales growth is reported by the Company because it regards this KPI as contributing to investor understanding of the Company's historical progress. EBITDA and EBITDA margin are reported because these are metrics commonly used by certain investors, financial analysts and other stakeholders to measure the Company's financial results. The company has chosen to disclose oper-ational EBIT in order to provide a fair picture of the underlying operational performance. This alternative key performance metric excludes amortization of acquisition-related goodwill, surplus values of specific business areas (currently Partner Publishing/Film) and IP values (trademarks, patents, copyrights etc.). The equity/assets ratio is stated because the Com-pany regards this as a metric commonly used by certain investors, financial analysts and other stakeholders to measure the Company's financial position.
DEFINITIONS OF KPI'S, GROUP
Adjusted Earnings per share | Profit after tax excluding non-operational depreciations and amortizations net of tax and profit of revalua- |
tion of shares in associated companies divided by the average number of shares in the period. Tax related | |
to non-operational depreciation and amortizations calculated using the effective tax rate (no tax effect on | |
goodwill amortizations). | |
Earnings per share | Profit after tax less non-controlling interest divided by the average number of shares in the period. |
EBIT margin | EBIT as a percentage of net sales. |
EBITDA | Earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization. |
EBITDA margin | EBITDA as a percentage of net sales. |
Equity/assets ratio | Equity as a percentage of total assets. |
Free Cash Flow | Cash Flow from operating activities for the period excluding net investment in acquired companies and cash |
flow from Financing activities. | |
Net sales growth | Net sales for the current period divided by net sales for the corresponding period of the previous year. |
Non-operational Deprecia- | Amortization of acquisition-related goodwill, surplus values of specific business areas and IP Values |
tion and Amortizations | (trademarks, patents, copyrights etc). |
Operational EBIT | EBIT excluding non-operational depreciations and profit/loss of revaluation of participation in associated |
companies. | |
Operational EBIT margin | Operational EBIT as a percentage of net sales. |
DEFINITIONS, QUARTERLY INFORMATION
Completed games | Total book value of finished game development projects (released games) during the quarter. Upon com- |
pletion the released games are reclassified from On-going Game Development Projects to Finished Games | |
and depreciation starts. | |
Depreciation and amortization | |
Game development | Depreciation of finished game development projects - degressive depreciation over two years. 1/3 depre- |
ciation during month 1 to 3 following release, 1/3 depreciation in month 4 to 12 following release and the | |
remaining 1/3 in month 13 to 24 following release. | |
Other intangible assets | The majority of other intangible assets (Film etc) relates to the Group's film business and is depreciated |
(Film etc) | based on actual sales in relation to expected sales of the relevant title. |
IP-rights | Depreciation of IP rights related to Games - straight-line depreciation over five years. |
Surplus value Partner | Depreciation of surplus values related to Partner Publishing/Film - straight-line depreciation over five years. |
Publishing/Film | |
Goodwill | Depreciation of Goodwill - straight-line depreciation over five years. |
Digital sales | All net sales not shipped physically. |
External game developers | Number of game developers engaged in game development projects by studios that are not owned by the |
group (external studios). | |
External Studios | Number of external development studios engaged in game development projects. |
Game development projects | Number of on-going game development projects financed by the group. |
Internal employees, | Number of employees not directly engaged in game development (both employees and contractors). |
non-development | |
Internal game developers | Number of game developers (both employees and contractors) engaged in game development projects by |
studios that are owned by the group (internal studios). |
Internal Studios Number of internal development studios. Net sales split - Games business area
Owned titles | Net sales of game titles that are owned IP:s or titles that are controlled by the group. |
Publishing titles | Net sales of game titles of IP:s the group does not own or control. |
New releases sales | Net sales of game titles that are released in the current quarter. |
by each quarter | |
Back catalog | Net sales of game titles that are not released in the current quarter. |
Number of IP:s | Number of IP:s owned by the group. |
Organic growth | Growth in Business Area - Games between periods where net sales from companies acquired in the last five |
quarters have been excluded. | |
Organic growth, CCY | Growth in Business Area - Games between periods where net sales from companies acquired in the last five |
quarters have been excluded. The comparison period is adjusted for differences in exchange rates. | |
Physical sales | All net sales shipped physically. |
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
QUARTERLY INFORMATION BY CALENDAR YEAR
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
Jan- | Apr- | Jul- | Oct- | Full | Jan- | Apr- | Jul- | Oct- | Full | Jan- | Apr- | Jul- | Oct- | Full | Oct- | Full | ||||
Mar | Jun | Sep | Dec | year | Mar | Jun | Sep | Dec | year | Mar | Jun | Sep | Dec | year | Dec | year | ||||
Consolidated Group | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net sales, SEK m | 82 | 86 | 85 | 255 | 508 | 633 | 838 | 1,273 | 1,381 | 4,124 | 1,631 | 1,142 | 1,260 | 1,509 | 5,541 | 2,168 | 7,959 | |||
EBITDA, SEK m | 42 | 40 | 35 | 156 | 273 | 226 | 207 | 215 | 326 | 974 | 619 | 390 | 418 | 518 | 1,945 | 495 | 965 | 969 | 879 | 3,308 |
Operational EBIT, SEK m | 35 | 34 | 28 | 106 | 202 | 131 | 70 | 103 | 197 | 501 | 396 | 204 | 241 | 302 | 1,143 | 286 | 712 | 653 | 603 | 2254 |
EBIT, SEK m | 32 | 30 | 24 | 102 | 188 | 107 | 53 | 91 | 152 | 403 | 172 | 81 | 76 | 91 | 421 | 97 | 219 | 173 | -61 | 428 |
Profit after tax, SEK m | 24 | 23 | 19 | 73 | 139 | 81 | 33 | 65 | 114 | 294 | 103 | 53 | 65 | 34 | 254 | 132 | 91 | 228 | -190 | 261 |
Number of shares (A&B), adjusted, million 1) | 216 | 216 | 217 | 238 | 222 | 238 | 241 | 265 | 283 | 252 | 283 | 308 | 310 | 312 | 303 | 312 | 368 | 385 | 423 | 372 |
Earnings per share, SEK 1) | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.31 | 0.63 | 0.34 | 0.14 | 0.25 | 0.44 | 1.17 | 0.37 | 0.17 | 0.21 | 0.11 | 0.84 | 0.42 | 0.26 | 0.60 | -0.45 | 0,83 |
Adjusted Earnings per share, SEK 1) | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.10 | 0.33 | 0.68 | 0.42 | 0.19 | 0.28 | 0.55 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 0.51 | 0.65 | 0.68 | 2.82 | 0.97 | 1.51 | 1.80 | 1.06 | 5,34 |
Cash flow from operating activities, SEK m | 30 | 22 | 29 | 99 | 179 | 700 | 165 | -740 | 455 | 579 | 777 | 441 | 283 | 239 | 1,740 | 766 | 732 | 805 | 840 | 3,143 |
Free cash flow, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 47 | -116 | -207 | 276 | 204 | 311 | 309 | 1,100 | |
Sales growth, Group, YoY, % | 90% | 62% | 9% | 99% | 68% | 673% | 878% | 1,403% | 441% | 713% | 158% | 36% | -1% | 9% | 34% | -18% | 81% | 89% | 44% | 44% |
Organic growth, Games, YoY, % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 74% | 51% | 11% | |
Organic growth, CCY, Games, YoY, % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 71% | 61% | 21% | |
EBITDA, margin, % | 51% | 46% | 41% | 61% | 54% | 36% | 25% | 17% | 24% | 24% | 38% | 34% | 33% | 34% | 35% | 37% | 47% | 41% | 41% | 42% |
Operational EBIT, margin, % | 43% | 39% | 32% | 41% | 40% | 20% | 8% | 8% | 14% | 12% | 25% | 18% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 21% | 34% | 27% | 28% | 28% |
EBIT, margin, % | 39% | 35% | 28% | 40% | 37% | 17% | 6% | 7% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 8% | 7% | 11% | 7% | -3% | 5% |
Gross Margin (Net sales-COGS), SEK m | 57 | 61 | 55 | 186 | 360 | 313 | 372 | 378 | 542 | 1,604 | 889 | 614 | 625 | 762 | 2,889 | 673 | 1,309 | 1,349 | 1,307 | 4,638 |
Gross Margin, % | 70% | 72% | 65% | 73% | 71% | 50% | 44% | 30% | 39% | 39% | 55% | 54% | 50% | 51% | 52% | 50% | 63% | 57% | 60% | 58% |
Net sales per business area | ||||||||||||||||||||
Games - THQ Nordic, SEK m | 82 | 86 | 85 | 255 | 508 | 135 | 146 | 124 | 352 | 756 | 143 | 185 | 330 | 333 | 991 | 307 | 488 | 567 | 380 | 1,742 |
Games - Deep Silver, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | 257 | 338 | 252 | 187 | 1,033 | 794 | 373 | 442 | 467 | 2,076 | 515 | 613 | 507 | 497 | 2,132 |
Games - Coffee Stain, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 14 | 14 | 98 | 83 | 45 | 36 | 261 | 82 | 172 | 130 | 99 | 483 |
Games - Saber, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 349 | 259 | 307 | 915 |
Games - DECA Games, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 33 | 72 | 105 |
Games, total | 82 | 86 | 85 | 255 | 508 | 391 | 484 | 376 | 553 | 1,803 | 1,035 | 641 | 816 | 836 | 3,328 | 904 | 1,622 | 1,495 | 1,355 | 5,376 |
Partner Publishing/Film, SEK m | - | - | - | - | - | 242 | 354 | 897 | 828 | 2,320 | 596 | 501 | 444 | 673 | 2,213 | 436 | 447 | 888 | 813 | 2,584 |
Net sales split - Games business area | ||||||||||||||||||||
Owned titles, % | 67% | 76% | 74% | 82% | 77% | 34% | 39% | 50% | 72% | 50% | 84% | 80% | 78% | 79% | 80% | 70% | 74% | 66% | 65% | 69% |
Publishing titles, % | 33% | 24% | 26% | 18% | 23% | 66% | 61% | 50% | 28% | 50% | 16% | 20% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 30% | 26% | 34% | 35% | 31% |
Owned titles, SEK m | 55 | 66 | 63 | 208 | 391 | 134 | 189 | 188 | 396 | 907 | 871 | 510 | 637 | 657 | 2,675 | 633 | 1,194 | 994 | 875 | 3,696 |
Publishing titles, SEK m | 27 | 20 | 22 | 47 | 116 | 257 | 295 | 188 | 157 | 897 | 164 | 131 | 179 | 178 | 653 | 270 | 428 | 501 | 480 | 1,680 |
New releases sales by each quarter, % | 36% | 16% | 39% | 74% | - | 63% | 20% | 31% | 58% | - | 75% | 18% | 32% | 35% | - | 38% | 45% | 33% | 20% | - |
Back catalog, % | 64% | 84% | 61% | 26% | - | 37% | 80% | 69% | 42% | - | 25% | 82% | 68% | 65% | - | 62% | 55% | 67% | 80% | - |
New releases sales by each quarter, SEK m | 30 | 14 | 34 | 190 | - | 246 | 98 | 117 | 321 | - | 781 | 118 | 261 | 291 | - | 345 | 733 | 488 | 272 | - |
Back catalog, SEK m | 52 | 72 | 51 | 65 | - | 145 | 386 | 259 | 232 | - | 254 | 524 | 555 | 545 | - | 559 | 889 | 1,007 | 1,083 | - |
Physical sales, % | 49% | 31% | 44% | 60% | 50% | 62% | 50% | 48% | 59% | 55% | 39% | 29% | 26% | 31% | 32% | 22% | 26% | 24% | 21% | 23% |
Digital sales, % | 51% | 69% | 56% | 40% | 50% | 38% | 50% | 52% | 41% | 45% | 61% | 71% | 74% | 69% | 68% | 78% | 74% | 76% | 79% | 77% |
Physical sales, SEK m | 40 | 27 | 36 | 150 | 253 | 243 | 242 | 179 | 324 | 988 | 407 | 189 | 215 | 259 | 1,070 | 195 | 419 | 352 | 289 | 1,255 |
Digital sales, SEK m | 42 | 59 | 49 | 102 | 251 | 148 | 242 | 197 | 229 | 815 | 628 | 452 | 601 | 577 | 2,258 | 709 | 1,203 | 1,143 | 1066 | 4,121 |
Depreciation and amortization | ||||||||||||||||||||
Game development | -6 | -6 | -7 | -43 | -62 | -59 | -109 | -80 | -93 | -341 | -192 | -162 | -144 | -133 | -631 | -148 | -191 | -222 | -200 | -761 |
Other intangible assets (Film etc.) | -33 | -24 | -27 | -31 | -115 | -25 | -16 | -26 | -76 | -144 | -53 | -55 | -43 | -65 | -216 | |||||
Sub-total | -6 | -6 | -7 | -43 | -62 | -92 | -133 | -107 | -124 | -455 | -217 | -179 | -170 | -209 | -775 | -201 | -246 | -265 | -265 | -977 |
Acquisition-related depreciation | ||||||||||||||||||||
IP-rights | -3 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -14 | -11 | -7 | -9 | -8 | -33 | -166 | -69 | -101 | -123 | -458 | -67 | -102 | -104 | -118 | -391 |
Surplus value Partner Publishing/Film | -12 | -10 | -2 | -9 | -33 | -15 | -8 | -12 | -11 | -46 | -12 | -15 | -15 | -10 | -52 | |||||
Goodwill | -1 | -1 | -2 | -28 | -32 | -43 | -45 | -52 | -77 | -218 | -110 | -375 | -401 | -536 | -1,423 | |||||
Sub-total | -3 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -14 | -24 | -17 | -13 | -45 | -99 | -224 | -123 | -164 | -211 | -722 | -189 | -492 | -521 | -664 | -1,867 |
Total intangible assets | -10 | -9 | -10 | -47 | -76 | -116 | -150 | -120 | -169 | -554 | -441 | -302 | -334 | -420 | -1,497 | -390 | -738 | -786 | -929 | -2,844 |
Investments in intangible assets | ||||||||||||||||||||
External game developm. and advances, SEK m | 54 | 44 | 59 | 54 | 212 | 115 | 114 | 132 | 167 | 528 | 189 | 225 | 166 | 152 | 732 | 193 | 209 | 172 | 153 | 726 |
Internal capitalized development, SEK m | 13 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 80 | 58 | 94 | 102 | 106 | 359 | 116 | 131 | 177 | 221 | 645 | 224 | 248 | 273 | 370 | 1,115 |
Other intangible assets | - | - | - | 11 | 11 | 12 | 31 | 18 | 31 | 91 | 20 | 22 | 43 | 46 | 131 | 40 | 41 | 39 | 35 | 155 |
IP-rights | - | - | 4 | - | 4 | - | 0 | 22 | 11 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Total | 67 | 59 | 82 | 98 | 306 | 185 | 239 | 273 | 314 | 1,010 | 326 | 378 | 392 | 419 | 1,515 | 465 | 498 | 484 | 558 | 2,004 |
Completed games | ||||||||||||||||||||
Completed games, SEK m | 1 | 2 | 40 | 134 | 176 | 123 | 47 | 50 | 162 | 383 | 220 | 168 | 104 | 152 | 644 | 165 | 253 | 311 | 156 | 885 |
Other KPIs | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total Game Dev projects | 32 | 30 | 29 | 36 | - | 54 | 51 | 55 | 77 | - | 80 | 81 | 86 | 96 | - | 103 | 125 | 135 | 150 | - |
Announced Game Dev projects | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 | - | 19 | 17 | 20 | 29 | - | 32 | 34 | 37 | 44 | - | 43 | 52 | 53 | 61 | - |
Unannounced Game Dev projects | 18 | 17 | 16 | 24 | - | 35 | 34 | 35 | 48 | - | 48 | 47 | 49 | 52 | - | 60 | 73 | 82 | 89 | - |
Total internal game developers | 78 | 82 | 163 | 178 | - | 536 | 565 | 608 | 613 | - | 860 | 882 | 1,162 | 1,237 | - | 1,359 | 2,076 | 2,551 | 3,362 | - |
Total external game developers | 282 | 306 | 261 | 229 | - | 714 | 692 | 740 | 871 | - | 807 | 946 | 1,110 | 1,021 | - | 1,006 | 1,109 | 1,042 | 963 | - |
Total internal employees, non-development | 44 | 44 | 45 | 55 | - | 470 | 486 | 554 | 529 | - | 541 | 590 | 709 | 713 | - | 744 | 790 | 851 | 1,405 | - |
Total number headcount | 404 | 432 | 469 | 462 | - | 1,720 | 1,743 | 1,902 | 2,013 | - | 2,208 | 2,418 | 2,981 | 2,970 | - | 5,730 | - | |||
Number of studios | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total number External Studios | - | - | - | - | - | 18 | 29 | 26 | 26 | - | 42 | 48 | 55 | 58 | - | 57 | - | |||
Total number Internal Studios | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | - | 17 | 18 | 18 | 20 | - | 56 | - | |||
Total number Studios | - | - | - | - | - | 28 | 39 | 36 | 36 | - | 59 | 66 | 73 | 78 | - | 113 | - | |||
Total number of IP | - | - | - | - | - | 91 | 106 | 107 | 119 | - | 136 | 138 | 148 | 154 | - | 208 | - |
2020
Jan-MarApr-JunJul-Sep
1) Recalculated with respect to the 3:1 split carried out on October 8, 2019 as resolved at the annual general meeting on September 17, 2019. Number of shares for previous periods have been adjusted.
EMBRACER GROUP AB (PUBL) | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020
Embracer Group is the parent company of businesses developing and publishing PC, console and mobile games for the global games market.
Embracer Group has an extensive catalogue of over 200 owned franchises, such as Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Darksiders, Metro, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, TimeSplitters, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z, amongst many others.
With its head office based in Karlstad, Sweden, Embracer Group has a global presence through its six operative groups: THQ Nordic GmbH, Koch Media GmbH/Deep Silver, Coffee Stain AB, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive and DECA Games. Embracer Group has 57 internal game development studios and is engaging more than 5,500 employees and contracted employees in more than 40 countries.
Embracer Group AB (publ)
Älvgatan 1
SE-652 25 Karlstad Sweden embracer.com
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Embracer Group AB published this content on 18 February 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 18 February 2021 09:48:03 UTC.
