Paris (France) (AFP) – Shares in Ubisoft plunged more than 15 percent Thursday after the French video games giant reported disappointing annual results and forecast further pain in the coming year. The stock was trading at around 4.06 euros ($4.72) just after 11:00 am in Paris (1000 GMT), having touched lows of 3.88 euros.
Ubisoft forecast Wednesday “net bookings,” its preferred revenue yardstick, of 250 million euros for the first quarter of its 2026-27 financial year, well short of the 285.5 million expected among analysts quoted by Bloomberg. For the current financial year, Ubisoft reported a net loss of almost 1.5 billion euros, largely due to a massive restructuring that has seen it cancel seven games and delay six others.
“Management is presenting [the restructuring] as a necessary step in a long-term refounding. But this reading should not conceal the fact that Ubisoft continues to face several structural issues,” said eToro analyst Antoine Fraysse-Soulier. The games developer and publisher suffers from “a cost base that is still high, an irregular release calendar, and a very strong dependence on a few historic franchises” such as “Assassin’s Creed,” he added.
Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot warned that its full 2026-27 financial year would be “a low point,” but that he expects a rebound beginning the following year as new titles are released.
© 2024 AFP
