Stillfront Announces Its Intention to Raise Equity Capital by Way of a Private Placement and Subsequently List Its Shares on Nasdaq First North, Stockholm
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NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL OR WOULD REQUIRE REGISTRATION OR ANY OTHER MEASURES. November 18, 2015 Stillfront announces its intention to raise equity capital by way of a private placement and subsequently list its shares on Nasdaq First North, Stockholm Stillfront Group AB (publ) (“Stillfront” or the “Company”), an independent creator, publisher and distributor of digital games, today announces its intention to raise equity capital by way of a private placement of shares and subsequently list its shares on Nasdaq First North, Stockholm (the “Offering”). The board of directors considers the Offering as the logical next step for Stillfront to further support its strategy and development of its business. Additional capital and the listing of its shares would, among other things, benefit Stillfront in its efforts to recruit and retain top talent, execute on its growth strategy and contribute to increased recognition and brand awareness of Stillfront. Jörgen Larsson, CEO and founder comments: “2015 has been Stillfront’s most successful year to date with an incredible global response to the pre- launch marketing of Unravel – a puzzle-platform game developed by our Swedish subsidiary Coldwood in collaboration with Electronic Arts – and the successful launch of Call of War, developed by our German subsidiary Bytro Labs. These recent successes provide further support that our business model is working, and we are now exploring ways to continue to expand”. Per Skyttvall, Chairman of Stillfront comments: “I am delighted with Stillfront’s development over the last few years and believe we are in an excellent position for capitalizing on our scalable business model by accelerating our growth strategy – towards our vision to become one of Europe’s leading indie game developers and publishers. Therefore, as a natural next step, the board of directors and management have decided to prepare the Company for a listing on Nasdaq First North.” About Stillfront Stillfront is an independent creator, publisher and distributor of digital games – with a vision to become one of Europe’s leading indie game creators and publishers. Stillfront operates through four near- autonomous subsidiaries: Bytro Labs in Germany, Coldwood Interactive in Sweden, Power Challenge in the UK and Sweden, and Dorado Online Games in Malta. Stillfront’s games are distributed globally, however main markets include Sweden, Germany, the United States and South America. Selected games Stillfront’s portfolio includes games across multiple platforms. Unravel, developed by Coldwood in collaboration with Electronic Arts, won 20+ awards at E3 and gamescom and is expected to be released in the first six months of 2016. Supremacy 1914 and Call of War are high-immersion war strategy games developed by Bytro Labs. ManagerZone is a sports management strategy game launched in 2001. Gladiators Online is an action management strategy game, launched on Steam in Q4 2015. Stillfront highlights Attractive market: • The global games market is estimated to reach $100bn in 2017 and is one of the largest entertainment industries in the world. The global games market is also growing strongly, at an estimated compounded growth rate of 8% from 2013 to 2017. Well-diversified games portfolio: • Unravel is a puzzle-platform game developed by Stillfront’s subsidiary Coldwood in collaboration with Electronic Arts, expected to be launched in the first six months of 2016. The pre-launch marketing of Unravel has been successful with 20+ awards at E3 and gamescom – two of the world’s largest trade shows for the video game industry. • Supremacy 1914 is a browser-based World War I strategy game, released in 2009 by Stillfront’s German subsidiary Bytro Labs. It has grown strongly since its release and experienced its all- time-high sales in the last twelve months ending on 30 September 2015. • Call of War is a browser-based World War II strategy game, released in May 2015 by Bytro Labs. It is Stillfront’s most successful launch to date with sales of SEK 1.8m in September 2015 alone. Management anticipates that sales will continue to grow, and that the life cycle will be long as for sister-game Supremacy 1914. • ManagerZone is a browser and app supported multiplayer sports management game series, developed and owned by Stillfront’s subsidiary Power Challenge. Due to its immersive gameplay, ManagerZone has experienced a 14-year life-cycle which is still ongoing. Strong current financials: • 63% organic growth and an Underlying EBITDA(1) margin of 23% in YTD Sep-15. Key employees are experienced and incentivized: • Key employees within Stillfront have extensive combined sector experience and jointly own approximately 31% of Stillfront. Attractive ownership structure and experienced board: • Approximately 55% of Stillfront is owned by either key employees or the specialist investors Acacia and IQ Capital. • The board of directors has extensive and complementary industry experience. Financial highlights • 63% organic growth in YTD Sep-15 compared to YTD Sep-14, mainly derived from strong growth in Coldwood and successful launch of Call of War. • 31% compounded annual growth rate from 2012 to 2014 attributable to both organic and acquired growth. • 15 percentage point increase in Underlying EBITDA(1) margin in YTD Sep-15 in comparison with full year 2014 mainly attributable to the strong sales growth – as sales growth positively affects Underlying EBITDA margin due to low marginal costs. Years ended 31 December First nine months ended 30 September SEKm (unless otherwise stated) 2012 2013 2014 2014 2015 Net revenue 17.1 20.7 29.1 22.9 37.4 Net revenue growth % 21.4% 40.4% n.a. 63.2% Underlying EBITDA(1) 2.9 2.2 2.3 2.3 8.6 Underlying EBITDA margin % 17.1% 10.5% 7.8% 10.2% 23.1% Expensed development investments –1.4 –3.4 –10.4 –7.3 –6.1 Reported EBITDA 1.5 –1.2 –8.2 –4.9 2.6 Reported EBITDA margin % 8.7% neg. neg. neg. 6.9% Owners and indicated pre-commitment The largest owner is specialist investor Acacia Asset Management who has indicated to pre-commit for 10% of the private placement. The second largest owner is FKL Holding GmBH, owned by key employees of Stillfront’s German subsidiary Bytro Labs. The third largest owner is IQ Capital, a London- based specialist VC investor. Employees considered key employees by management jointly own approximately 30% of Stillfront. The Offering in brief The Offering is expected to comprise newly issued shares in the Company, corresponding to an amount of approximately SEK 75m. The Offering will be carried out as a private placement to primarily institutional investors in Sweden. Lock-up undertakings All principal shareholders intend to enter into a 6-month lock-up undertaking and all key employees intend to enter into a 12-month lock-up undertaking in connection with the Offering. Advisors In connection with the Offering, Pareto Securities is Sole Manager and Bookrunner and DLA Nordic is legal advisor to Stillfront. For additional information, please contact: Jörgen Larsson, CEO at Stillfront Phone: +46 70 321 18 00 E-mail: [email protected] Sten Wranne, CFO at Stillfront Phone: +46 70 585 12 58 E-mail: [email protected] Footnotes (1) Underlying EBITDA excludes expenses considered by management as “expensed investments”. These adjustments have not been audited or reviewed. IMPORTANT NOTICE This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer for sale of securities. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or any other measures. The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. Any offering of securities will be made pursuant to applicable exemptions in the Financial Instruments Trading Act (Sw. lag (1991:980) om handel med finansiella instrument) and the Directive 2003/71/EC (such Directive, together with any amendments thereto and any applicable implementing measures in the relevant home Member State under such Directive, the “Prospectus Directive”). Any such offering will be made by way of a private placement and by means of an information memorandum to be prepared by Stillfront. Such information memorandum will contain detailed information about Stillfront and its management, as well as financial statements. The information memorandum when available will not constitute a prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive. No prospectus has been or will be prepared by Stillfront in relation to the Offering pursuant to the Prospectus Directive and approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Sweden (Sw. Finansinspektionen). Investors should not invest in any securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information contained in the aforementioned information memorandum which is not yet available. Within such Member States of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “Relevant Member State”), no action has been undertaken as of this date to make an offer to the public of securities requiring a publication of a prospectus in any Relevant Member State.