BIGBEN INTERACTIVE : INCREASE OF ANNUAL SALES OF FY 2015/2016 UP TO 202.2 M€: + 9.4%

25 april 2016

 Bigben Interactive

Press release

25 April 2016, 06:00 pm

increase of annual SALES OF fy 2015/2016 up TO 202.2 M€: + 9.4%

CONFIRMATION OF CURRENT OPERATING PROFIT above 3%

 

 

 ⁽¹⁾ Non audited data

 

VIGOROUS ANNUAL SALES

Over FY 2015/2016 (ended March 31) Bigben Interactive achieved a turnover of 202.2 M€ up 9.4% compared to the previous year, against an initially announced sales target of 185 M€, reassessed during the year to 195 M€. While all businesses contributed to this performance, the video game publishing, a strategic activity, grew by 100% to a record turnover of 24.3 M€.

MOBILE

• The Mobile business segment (50.4% of Group sales) posted sales of 101.8 M€, up by 3.9%, In a mature market supported by the success of iPhone 6 as well as Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7 premium smartphones, sales growth was driven by new high end accessories developed by Bigben such as Force Glass ^TM tempered glass protection screens and induction chargers.

GAMING

• The Gaming business segment recorded sales of 64.4 M€ (31.9% of Group sales) up by 16,4%, driven by the boom of the video games publishing business:
   
  • Accessories : On an accessory gaming market hampered by closed systems, sales fell 7.5% to 30.6 M€. However this evolution was balanced by the rise of Bigben internally developed Nacon products for "core gamers" as well as by spot sales of controllers to Set Top Box operators.
     
  • Publishing : In line with the Group's strategy, this highly profitable activity continues to boom with record sales of 24.3 M€ driven by the success of the WRC5 rally game (almost 700 000 units sold until 31/3/2016), the good performance of the Rugby World Cup 2015 and Handball 16 video games as well as the growing contribution of digital sales, hence leveraging the profitability of the back catalog in the long run.

                   
                   

AUDIO

• Audio sales amounted to 36.0 M€ (17.8 % of Group sales), up by 14.2% on a nearly stable market. Sales growth was driven by the success of Group innovative Bluetooth® products and the deployment of the high end Thomson range.

Breakdown of activities by area, combining domestic and export sales from these areas

Sales in M€	Year 2015/2016	Year 2014/2015	Change
France	159.4	145.4	+ 9.6%
Benelux	14.0	13.5	+ 3.7%
Germany	15.5	16.1	- 3.3%
Other territories	13.3	9.8	+ 35.2%
Total	202.2	184.9	+ 9.4%

Breakdown of activities by business segments (previous format)

Sales in M€	Year 2015/2016	Relative share	Year 2014/2015	Relative share	Change
Core Business	192.7	95.3%	174.8	94.5 %	+ 10.3%
Accessories (Gaming+Smartphones+IT)	132.4	65.5%	131.1	70.9%	+  1.0%
Audio	36.0	17.8%	31.5	17.0%	+ 14.2%
Publishing	24.3	12.0%	12.2	6.6%	+ 99.7%
Distribution	9.5	4.7%	10.1	5.5%	- 5.4%
Total	202.2	100.0%	184.9	100.0 %	+ 9.4%

A 4TH quarter activity UP BY 5.8%

In the 4th quarter of FY 2015/2016 (from 1 January to 31 March 2016), Bigben Interactive achieved sales revenues of 39.3 M€, up 5.8% over the same period of previous year.

Growth was driven, on one hand, by the Mobile business (+ 7.9%) which benefited from the success of accessories for the new Samsung Galaxy S7 , and on the other hand, by the Gaming business (+ 9.1%), supported by the continued growth of the Publishing segment (+ 139.2%) and the exclusive distribution of the MXGP2 video game.

Audio sales dropped by 7.1% in the last quarter following an adverse comparison with the 4th quarter of FY 2014/2015 as sales for the 4th quarter of the previous year had benefited from unusually large purchases from customers anticipating price increases linked to the unfavorable evolution of the EUR / USD exchange rate.

confirmation of the year-end current operating result target above 3%

Banking on its success in passing last year's EUR / USD impact onto its selling prices and on the growth of its high value-added publishing activity, Bigben Interactive confirms its target of current operating income above 3% of sales against 0.9% in 2014/2015.

FAVORABLE OUTLOOK 2016/2017

In 2016/2017, the Group expects a further growth supported by all its business segments and a further increase of its profitability driven by its video game publishing segment which will see six launches over the year.
In particular, the first quarter is shaping up well in view of the release of Sherlock Holmes followed by the distribution of Rugby Challenge 3 .

Thus, the success of the strategy implemented over the last two years in the video game Publishing segment should enable to significantly improve the Group profitability in the coming financial years.
  
Bigben will disclose its projections for FY 2016/2017 and its "Bigben-Horizon 2018" strategy together with the release of its year-end results during the 2015/2016 annual results presentation to be held in Paris on 31 May 2016.

Upcoming publication:       Annual results 2015 / 2016: Monday 30 May 2016
Press release after close of the stock market

ABOUT BIGBEN INTERACTIVE

SALES 2014-2015 202,2M€     HEADCOUNT 350 employees     INTERNATIONAL 9 subsidiaries  and a distribution network in 50 countries     www.bigben-group.com

Bigben Interactive is a leading player specialized in the design and distribution of accessories for video games, smartphones and tablets, as well as audio products and video game publishing, Buoyed by the rapid expansion of the market for mobile devices and changes in the video game market, the Group, which is recognized for its capacities in terms of innovation and creation, seeks to become one of Europe's leaders in multimedia accessories.   Company listed on Euronext Paris, compartment C - Index : CAC SMALL - Éligible SRD long ISN : FR0000074072 ; Reuters : BIGPA ; Bloomberg : BIGFP   PRESS CONTACTS CapValue - Edouard Miffre emiffre@capvalue.fr - +33 1 80 81 50 02   CapValue - Gilles Broquelet gbroquelet@capvalue.fr - +33 1 80 81 50 01

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