Angry Birds maker Rovio gets lockdown profit boost
The company behind the Angry Birds franchise has posted a huge rise in profit for the second quarter as players flocked to the hit video game during the coronavirus lockdown.
The figures
Rovio’s adjusted operating profit jumped 160 per cent to €13.8m (£12.5m) in the three months to the end of June.
Revenue slipped 3.6 per cent from €71.8m to €69.2m.
Operating cash flow increased from €4.8m to €18.7m.
Earnings per share were up from 0.04 cents to 15 cents.
Why it’s interesting
Rovio said it had benefited from higher player engagement during the Covid-19 lockdown as people turned to the ornithological extravaganza for entertainment.
The Finnish video game firm reeled in gross bookings of €28.8m for Angry Birds — up 15 per cent on the first quarter.
Rovio also benefited from the launch of narrative puzzle game Small Town Murders in June, as well as the acquisition of Copenhagen-based game studio Darkfire Games.
The firm said its lower revenue was the result of lower takings from its film division.
However, Rovio said Angry Birds Movie 2 was among the most watched films on Netflix during the spring.
The company did not give full-year profit guidance, but said it planned to launch between one and three new games in 2020.
What Rovio said
“We had an eventful second quarter and continued delivering on our strategy on multiple fronts,” said chief executive Kati Levoranta.
“We reached record high games revenue driven by the strong performance of our key games. Our profitability improved significantly year-on-year due to lower user acquisition investments and higher games gross bookings.”
She added: “The overall impact of Covid-19, which was visible in a higher level of downloads, daily active users and player engagement, peaked late April. From May onwards these KPIs started to normalise. At the same time, successful game improvements have led to somewhat higher monetization compared to the beginning of the year and stable revenues in our key games.”