Notes to the Financial Statements 36
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RECORD REVENUE AND PROFIT WHILE IN TRANSITION FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015 FRONTIER IS FOCUSED ON BUILDING WORLD-CLASS FRANCHISES AS THE GAMES INDUSTRY TRANSITIONS TO THE WORLD’S PREMIERE FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT. Frontier has a proven track record of progressive development in video games spanning several decades of rapid technological change. Its projects cross a wide variety of genres and platforms and are linked by an underlying drive for innovation, timely delivery and, above all, quality, enabled by its COBRA technology. CONTENTS STRATEGIC REPORT Highlights 01 Chairman’s statement 02 Market overview 04 Chief Executive’s statement 08 Strategic priorities and key performance indicators 10 Principal risks and uncertainties 12 Financial review 14 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Directors’ biographies 20 Report of the Directors 22 Corporate governance report 24 Remuneration report 26 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Independent Auditor’s report 28 Consolidated statement of cashflows 29 Company statement of cashflows 30 Consolidated income statement 31 Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 31 Consolidated statement of financial position 32 Company statement of financial position 33 Consolidated statement of changes in equity 34 Company statement of changes in equity 35 Notes to the financial statements 36 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Notice of Annual General Meeting 59 Advisors and Company information 62 HIGHLIGHTS OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS • Strategic step: The first stage of NET CASH BALANCE (£M) OPERATING RESULT (£M) transition was successfully completed as Elite Dangerous launched. At the end of August 2015 it had sold approximately 825,000 paid units £10.5M £1.6M (excluding free ‘demo’ units) and +24% +192% generated 84% of Group revenues 10.5 1.6 via a self-publishing business model 8.4 1.1 7.2 including associated merchandise. (1.7) • Self-publishing contributed significantly to record revenues, up 139% to £22.8 million, a cash increase of £2.1 million to £10.5 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 million, EBITDA up 1,790% to £6.1 million and an adjusted operating REVENUE (£M) EPS / (LPS) (P) profit up 171% to £2.5 million whilst still in transition. • The Group expanded the reach of £22.8M 4.9P Elite Dangerous through subsequent +139% +185% releases on Mac and Xbox One 22.8 4.2 4.9 platforms in addition to PC, and via the Steam and Xbox Live distribution 12.1 (5.8) channels in addition to the Group’s 9.5 own online store. The Group’s COBRA technology facilitated the significant technological and logistical achievement of simultaneous 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 multi-platform and multi-channel releases whilst players all share EBITDA (£M) ADJUSTED EPS / (LPS)** (P) the same server environment. • All remaining work-for-hire projects were completed, as Tales from Deep £6.1M 7.4P Space with Amazon and Screamride +1,790% +165% with Microsoft were released. 7.3 7.4 • The organisation was restructured 6.1 for fully self-published operations (11.4) by centralising development in the 2.9 Group’s Cambridge headquarters and changing the staffing mix via 0.3 targeted recruitment and redundancy at a cost of £0.3 million. 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 • The Group started the development of its second self-published franchise, ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT* (£M) DEFERRED INCOME (£M) Planet Coaster, which was also publicly announced. £2.5M £0.7M +171% -70% 2.5 2.5 1.8 (3.5) 1.3 0.7 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 FIND OUT MORE ONLINE * See page 18 for reconciliation to reported revenue and operating result on income statement. at www.frontier.co.uk ** See note 26. FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015 01 STRATEGIC REPORT CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT This has been a landmark year for our 2015 above all else has been the year of Company. Two years ago we embarked Elite Dangerous. We have built a virtual on a transition plan. I am very pleased galaxy with 400 billion star systems in to report that the first stage of that which players can engage with each other transition is now complete. Last year in combat, explore the stars and their 81% of our revenue was derived from planets, mine resources and trade them. two clients on whose behalf we developed The second step in our transition is games. This financial year 84% of our to take the success of Elite Dangerous sales (including associated merchandise) to become a multi-franchise game have come from the consumers who publisher. We recently announced that bought our self-published game Elite our second franchise, Planet Coaster, Dangerous. In 2016 we expect 100% is being built on our knowledge and of our revenue to be booked from long experience of roller coaster games. consumers buying our self-published We expect to reveal details of a third games. This transition has involved franchise once Planet Coaster is released. “ THIS HAS BEEN A LANDMARK significant internal re-organisation This will keep our creative teams busy YEAR FOR OUR COMPANY. as well as adapting from a B2B to B2C for many years ahead. TWO YEARS AGO WE model. I take this opportunity to thank all our employees for their dedication, EMBARKED ON A TRANSITION long hours and hard work. In 2015 we PLAN. I AM VERY PLEASED also released the last of our games TO REPORT THAT THE FIRST developed for third parties: Tales from PERCENTAGE OF OUR TOTAL REVENUE Deep Space on behalf of Amazon and DERIVED FROM SELF-PUBLISHED GAMES: STAGE OF THAT TRANSITION Screamride for Microsoft. We thank these IS NOW COMPLETE.” customers and continue to maintain a close relationship with them as they play key parts in the distribution of our 84% self-published games. CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE BOUGHT ELITE DANGEROUS: 825,000+ EXPECTED TOTAL REVENUE WE EXPECT FROM CUSTOMERS BUYING OUR SELF-PUBLISHED GAMES IN 2016: 100% READ MORE ABOUT OUR BUSINESS: P08 02 FRONTIERFRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS PLC AANNUALNNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015 WORK-FOR-HIRE BUSINESS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED The Group successfully completed its outstanding work-for-hire commitments during the year, developing Screamride on Xbox One for Microsoft Game Studios and Tales from Deep Space on behalf of Amazon. As well as developing franchises, the In last year’s statement I said that Our Company could not achieve its core of our capability must focus on “In future years, starting with 2015, we success without the hard work, creative remaining at the forefront of game will see the harvest of the seeds we have talent, dedication and perspiration from development technology. Our COBRA sown.” We have delivered a transformation our exceptional employees. I take this engine, which enables us to release in our business model, achieved a record opportunity to thank them on behalf of games on many platforms, remains level of revenue, sold our first developed all shareholders. Equally, our transition an important effort. Elite Dangerous game to 825,000 consumers (the majority would not have been possible without the was one of the first games to showcase through our own web store), re-engineered financial support of our shareholders and the possibilities of Virtual Reality (VR) our development capability (from third backers. I take this opportunity to thank and we intend to stay in touch with party published to self-published) and them on behalf of all employees. hardware manufacturers of VR systems announced a net profit in the financial such as Facebook’s Oculus Rift, Valve year. Looking ahead I see a multi-franchise DAVID GAMMON and HTC’s Vive, Microsoft’s HoloLens game developer / publisher with its games Chairman and Sony’s Morpheus as 3D virtual being distributed on the most modern 8 September 2015 reality becomes more commonplace. and best hardware platforms, achieving Elite Dangerous has now been released sustainable returns for our shareholders. on PC, Mac and Xbox One, and we will Activision Blizzard Inc. and Electronic continue to invest in releases to achieve Arts Inc. are good exemplars as to where the maximum customer reach. we are heading. FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015 03 STRATEGIC REPORT MARKET OVERVIEW THE VIDEO GAMES SECTOR HAS CONTINUED TO GROW SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE LAST DECADE. THE TARGET AUDIENCE WITHIN THE VIDEO GAMES SECTOR HAS EXTENDED FROM THE TRADITIONAL YOUNG MALE FOCUS TO A MORE BROAD ONE, WITH FEMALE PLAYERS OUTNUMBERING MEN IN SOME AGE RANGES. PLATFORMS ARE BROADLY SEGMENTED INTO I) PC, II) CONSOLE AND III) SMARTPHONE / TABLET. In 2004, the games industry as a whole generated revenue of The video games industry is made up of US$25 billion. An average of available estimates for 2015 values developers, publishers, platform holders (such as Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and the market at US$82 billion revenue and estimates for 2017 Apple), distributors, retailers and secondary 1,2,3 range as high as US$103 billion. Spending in each of the service providers. three platform segments is approximately equal,1,2,3 each The distinction between developers and segment having a one-third share of the total, or approximately publishers has become blurred, as the US$28 billion each, annually. route to market is now open to developers such as Frontier directly self-publishing in the digital space. 04 FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION This industry move towards digital CONSOLE SEGMENT In video games and other industries distribution has removed significant The key players in the console world like film, music and TV, direct digital barriers to entry for developers like have shipped their respective new distribution of products to customers Frontier to access the market directly generation of consoles, generally is rapidly becoming ubiquitous as on a similar footing to traditional providing a multimedia centre with physical retail channels recede.