Gameloft’s plan to escape Vivendi – Les Echos

Faced with the same threat – a takeover of Vivendi – Gameloft has decided to adopt the same strategy as its “big brother” Ubisoft convince shareholders that the future is brighter in remaining independent. Under the influence of a takeover of Vivendi since Monday, the publisher of mobile games brought together analysts and investors on Tuesday in London to present its strategic plan 2015-2018. Ubisoft had held the same kind of meeting in the UK, there is a month. In both cases, the companies founded by the Guillemot brothers put the package in an attempt to seduce the financial community.

Gameloft provides a jump of nearly 40% of sales by 2018, more than 350 million. The editor will limit the number of gambling outlets to ten a year (against twenty previously) to concentrate on its strong brands. It builds on an average increase of 5% per year in income from options and purchases of virtual goods in games it develops. But the bulk of the growth will come mainly from the advertising: in three years, the revenue generated by advertising is expected to grow from 5 to 100 million euros!

For the company, this rise is not surprising. “ We have just developed our business model in two years to take advantage of the explosion of the mobile advertising market including programmatic advertising ,” said Alexandre de Rochefort, CFO.

“We are well on their own! “

The boom of sales will affect the profitability of the publisher. Loss last year, it should show an operating result of 65 million euros in 2018, according to executives. The operating margin would be between 18 and 20% of revenues, against 12% in 2013. The austerity measures began in late 2014, which resulted in the elimination of 850 positions (12% of the workforce) and closing ten studios, will have positive effects on profitability this year. Finally, Gameloft expects to generate more than EUR 85 million “free cash flow” accumulated in the next three years.

Beyond the numbers, the editor recalled the inconsistency, he said, a merger with Vivendi. “ We have no big problem, no cash, no people. We have everything we need and we are well on their own “hammered the CEO Michel Guillemot, who sees no positive synergy between a media group and publisher of video games. “ In a group like ours, what is important is the trust between people ,” he added, deploring again the methods used by Vivendi. The question is whether the speech and objectives will be enough to convince shareholders not to tender their shares.