Lesquin, 23 April 2018, 17:45

Annual sales for FY 2017/18 up by 17.9% at 245.4 M€

Q4 sales at 55.3 M€ up by 7.7%

Confirmation of target for current operating profit rate between 6% and 7%

20. 
    (1) Non audited data

A year of strong growth despite a business shift to 2018/19

Over FY 2017/2018 (ended March 31) Bigben Interactive achieved a turnover of 245.4 M€ up 17.9% compared to the previous year. The Group thus reached the top of the range for its annual sales target initially set at 245 M€

The three Group business segments contributed to its sales growth.

GAMING
The Gaming activity in FY 2017/18 recorded sales of 87.2 M€ up 25.2% when compared with FY 2016/17 due to the strong success of Accessories.

· Accessories: sales of Gaming accessories showed a strong growth of 47.5 % to 52.9 M€ thanks to the success of controllers developed by the Group under the PlayStation ® 4 license (REVOLUTION Pro Controller,REVOLUTION Pro Controller 2 and NACON^TM Compact Controller)and of Bigben accessories for the Nintendo SWITCH^TM console.

· Publishing: Sales for Publishing amounted to 25.6 M€ up by 4.3%. The success of both WRC7and TT Isle of Mangames dampened the impact of theshift of Tennis World Tour® and Warhammer Inquisitor Marty to the 1^st quarter of FY 2018/19.
On the other hand, digital sales grew further (+57.7%) and represented 36% of total Publishing sales in FY 2017/18 (against 24% in 2016/17).

MOBILE
The Mobile activity recorded a 14.7% growth with 121.0 M € sales in FY 2017/18. Sales benefitted from the rising demand for Force Case® shockproof protection shells, from the ongoing success of Force Glass®protection screens and from the strong sales of premium accessories for the last generation smartphones.

AUDIO

The Audio business managed to increase further its share in a slightly declining market with sales of 37.1 M€ up by 13.0% in FY 2017/18. This growth has been supported by the success of the illuminated Bluetooth^® speakers sold under the new Lumin'Us Group brand and the further strengthening of the range of Thomson licensed products.

Sales growth of 7.7% in 4th quarter, exceeding Group's forecast

Sales by Bigben reached 55.3 M€ in 4^th quarter of FY 2017/2018 (from January 1 to March 31, 2018), up 7.7% when compared with the same period of previous Financial Year. This achievement went beyond Group's expectations.

Gaming was faced with a high comparison basis (launch of the REVOLUTION Pro Controller for the PS4® format in the 4^th quarter of FY 2016/2017) and the shift of two games with strong sales potential but managed to limit the downslide with sales of 22.5 M€ (- 3.5%) thanks to the successful launch of TT Isle of Man. This game also represented the most important digital launch in terms of sales for the Group, hereby confirming the success and the rapid increase of digital sales for games.

The Mobile activity showed further steady growth (+ 15.0%) of sales achieving 26.5 M€ with the success of the Force Glass® and Force Case® ranges and the launch by Samsung of the Galaxy S9 in February.

Audio sales and particularly its Thomson range recorded an accelerated growth (+ 26.6%) reaching 6.3 M€.

Confirmation of a Current Operating Profit rate ranging between 6% and 7% of sales

Despite the shift of two games with strong sales potential to the first quarter of FY 2018/2019, Bigben confirms for 2017/2018 financial year its target of a Current Operating Margin ranging between 6% and 7% of sales against 5.3 % in FY 2016/2017.

Outlook 2018/2019

8233127. should show a particularly significant growth as from the 1^st quarter of FY 2018/2019 with the release of Tennis World Tour® and Warhammer Inquisitor Martyr initially planned to take place in 2017/2018 and which will complement the other game releases scheduled in 2018/2019. Therefore Publishing sales should at least double throughout the current FY when compared to FY 2017/2018. Group's business will simultaneously benefit from the marketing of the REVOLUTION Pro Controller 2 in Asia, from the launch of new accessories under the PlayStation ® 4 license and from the commercial momentum shown by Group brands in the Mobile and Audio segments.

Banking on these prospects, Bigben confirms its targets linked to its "BIGBEN 2020" plan with sales in excess of 280 M€ and a Current Operating Profit rate of 9% for FY 2019/2020.

The projections for FY 2018/2019 will be disclosed in the 28 May press release for the FY 2017/2018 year-end results and commented during the presentation of annual results to take place in Paris on the following day.

Upcoming publication:

• Annual results 2017/18 : Monday 28 May 2018

Press release after close of the stock market

Attachment

• Bigben Q4 sales 2017_18.pdf

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