Financial: Asmodee Profits Soar in 2016
Asmodee, parent company of Asmodee NA and Fantasy Flight Games just blew the doors off the cash registers in 2016!
Asmodee’s parent company is French investment company Eurazeo. Here’s the section on Asmodee revenue and profits for 2016, just released:
ASMODEE (fully consolidated)
■ Continued robust organic growth and an ongoing international acquisitions policy
In 2016, Asmodee posted revenue of €377.2 million, up +39.5% on a reported basis compared to the previous year, and solid organic growth of +18.5% at constant scope and exchange rates.
This growth was spurred by all product lines and regions: international activities now represent 75% of Group revenue, particularly in the US and the UK. The year was marked by a particularly robust performance in the cards segment, driven by Pokémon which benefited from favorable trends in all the Group’s European countries.
The Group’s EBITDA totaled €65.2 million, resulting in a 17.3% margin. EBITDA increased by +57.5% on a reported basis and +23.7% at constant scope and exchange rates.
Asmodee is also pursuing its strategic initiatives: enhancement of its editorial contents in all regions and on all media, ramp-up in new regions, primarily the US, and creation of its digital platform offering.
Pro forma of the external growth transactions carried out at the end of 2016 (F2Z, Heidelberger, Millenium and Edge), revenue in 2016 totaled €402 million and EBITDA amounted to €78.1 million, i.e. a +19.4% margin.
Net financial debt totaled €223.6 million following the June 2016 refinancing and the acquisitions at the end of 2016, i.e. a leverage now lower than 3.0x EBITDA.
Full 2016 Eurozoa Annual Report
Thoughts
The growth of the Asmodee group is phenomenal. They had exceeded GW’s gross sales in 2015 and just blew past them in 2016. Here’s the baseline revenue numbers of both companies to compare:
Gross revenue 2016
Asmodee €377.2 million ($404.6 million USD)
GW £118.1 million ($151.2 million USD)
Asmodee is carrying quite a lot of debt at €223.6 million, and is continuing the strategy of acquiring companies. In the last year they bought Heidelberger, Millenium and Edge, a set of publishers and distributors in Europe.
Still though, for the last few years, GW has been relatively flat on gross sales, while Asmodee is now averaging 20-40% growth year per year.
~It looks like the industry is continuing to grow into a multipolar world with multiple “big fish”. There is no longer any one sheriff in town who calls the shots.
