PRESS RELEASE: BIGBEN: FOURTH-QUARTER 2023/24 SALES UP 6.6% TO €69.7 MILLION
Press release
Lesquin, 29 April 2024, 6:00pm CET
*FOURTH-QUARTER 2023/24 SALES *
*UP 6.6% TO €69.7 MILLION*
*2023/24 SALES (non-IFRS) UP 4% TO €294.9 MILLION*
*STRONG GROWTH IN PROFITABILITY OVER THE FULL YEAR *
BIGBEN INTERACTIVE (ISIN FR0000074072) has today reported its consolidated sales for its 2023/24 financial year (period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).
*Sales (unaudited)*
*2023/24*
*2022/23*
*Change*
*€ million*
*Fourth quarter (January–March)* *69.7* 65.4 +6.6%
Nacon Gaming 41.0 37.3 +9.8%
Bigben Audio/Telco 28.8 28.1 +2.4%
*Full year (April–March)*
*Non-IFRS sales* *294.9* 283.5 *+4.0%*
Nacon Gaming 170.7 156.0 +9.5%
Adjustment for the partial disposal of Gollum -3.0
Bigben Audio/Telco 124.2 127.5 -2.6%
*IFRS sales* *291.9* 283.5 *+3.0%*
*Fourth-quarter sales up 6.6% to €69.7 million*
*NACON Gaming* generated fourth-quarter 2023/24 sales of €41.0 million, up 9.8%.
*GAMING*: Performance was positive in the fourth quarter, with sales rising 7.9% to €26.4 million despite a high base for comparison (strong back-catalogue activity in Q4 2022/23 and release of Blood Bowl^® 3, Chef Life and Transport Fever 2 Console Edition).
Catalogue sales (new games) rose 16.3% to €15.4 million over the period. Five games were released in the fourth quarter of 2023/24 and performed well:
· *War Hospital *and *New Cycle *in January,
· *Garden Life* and *Welcome to Paradize* in February,
· *Taxi Life* in March.
Over the full year, NACON had a busy release schedule, launching 19 games, including some top sellers such as *Robocop: Rogue City *^*TM*, which was a big hit, *Cricket 24: Official Game of The Ashes *^*TM*, *Taxi Life*, *Tour de France* and *Welcome to Paradize*.
An impressive line-up of launches is also planned for 2024/25, with around 15 games scheduled for release, including *Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown*^*TM**, **Crown Wars: The Black Prince,* *Ravenswatch*, which has sold more than 400,000 early-access copies on PC and *Greedfall II: The Dying World *and *Terminator: Survivors*^*TM*, which will be given an early access release.
Back-catalogue sales (games released in previous years) held up well at €11.0 million. In 2024/25, Back-catalogue sales will get a boost from the various games released in the 2023/24 financial year, paving the way for strong growth.
*ACCESSORIES*: Over the quarter, Accessories sales rose 13.1% to €13.8 million. The new products released in October, including the *RIG 600 **PRO* gaming headset and the *REVOLUTION 5 PRO *controller, have gone from strength to strength. The *RIG 600 **PRO* has sold very well, especially in the US. These trends are expected to continue over the next few months with the increase in the installed base of consoles.
*Bigben – Audio-Video/Telco *generated fourth-quarter sales of €28.8 million, up 2.4%.
MOBILE ACCESSORIES: In a smartphone market that continues to contract significantly, the mobile accessories business performed well, with sales rising 8.0% to €23.3 million. The *Force* brand and the stellar performance of *Force Play 2* earbuds, chosen as the “Product of the Year 2024”, drove this growth, enabling BIGBEN to outperform the market by a significant margin. New “*Force*” ranges are being lined up and will underpin the development of the Mobile Accessories business over the coming months.
AUDIO-VIDEO: This business generated sales of €5.4 million in the quarter, compared with €6.3 million in the same period of the previous year. *Audio *sales came to €2.7 million. The introduction of the Cosy, Bigben Party and Kids ranges in France and the rest of Europe continued to make good progress, pointing to bright times ahead.
The *Video* business showed resilience, with sales stable at €2.7 million compared with the previous year.
*Further strong growth in operating income expected over the full year*
Given the performance over the full year, the Group has generated strong growth in its operating income.
The targets and development strategy for the 2024/25 financial year will be presented when the full-year 2023/24 results are published on 3 June.
*Next event:*
*FY 2023/24 results press release to be published on 3 June 2024 *(after the market close)
*FY 2023/24 results presentation meeting at 11:30am on 4 June 2024*
* *
*ABOUT BIGBEN INTERACTIVE*
* *
*2023/24 (NON-IFRS) SALES*
€291.9 million
*HEADCOUNT*
Over 1,300 employees
*INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE*
31 subsidiaries and a distribution network covering 100 countries
*www.bigben-group.com*
Bigben is a pan-European player in publishing video games and designing and distributing mobile accessories, gaming accessories and audio/video products. The Group is known for being innovative and creative and aims to be one of Europe’s leading companies in each of its markets.
Listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment B - Index: CAC Mid & Small – Eligible for the long-only deferred settlement service
ISIN: FR0000074072; Reuters: BIG.PA; Bloomberg: BIGFP
*PRESS CONTACT*
Cap Value – Gilles Broquelet gbroquelet@capvalue.fr - +33 1 80 81 50 01
*Attachment*
· CP_BBI_CAT4 23-24 English Diffusion