Ubisoft reports first-quarter 2012-13 sales

Paris, July 19, 2012 – Today, Ubisoft released its sales figures for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2012.

Sales

Sales for the first quarter of 2012-13 came to €131 million, up 27.2% (or 17.5% at constant exchange rates) compared with the €103 million recorded for the same period of 2011-12.

First-quarter sales were higher than the guidance of approximately €115 million issued when Ubisoft released its full-year results for 2011-12. The quarter saw the following:

Higher-than-expected sales of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier®, which was the best-selling console game in the US for May and June, both in unit and value terms.

A 41% decline in back-catalog sales to €39 million, due to industry wide lower retail back-catalog sales, although this contraction was partly offset by growth in online back-catalog sales.

Continued strong momentum for the Online segment, with sales up 112% to €27 million. This performance was primarily driven by our Free-to-Play titles and by the success of Trials Evolution, which turned in record first-day sales on XBLA.

Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer, stated "With 335 nominations and more than 160 awards at E3 2012, Ubisoft reaped the rewards of its pro-active strategy in the Core segment and demonstrated its strong comeback in this category. Assassin's Creed 3 won numerous Game of the Show awards, Far Cry 3 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist made a big impression at the event, and our two new brands Watchdogs and ZombiU set social networks alight. In the Casual segment, Just Dance 4 is expected to be another major hit, thanks notably to a strong playlist of this year's best songs. Our success at E3 2012 and the robust momentum of our Online games are positive indicators for achieving our full-year targets for 2012-13." Mr. Guillemot continued "Our medium-term goal is to capitalize on both the arrival of the new generation of consoles and the ramp-up of the Free-to-Play segment, which represent two major opportunities for us to step up growth and enhance our profitability. Our capacity to create successful brands and high-quality content, allied with our ongoing progress in the item-based model, multi-screen gaming and the development of Uplay (our online services and distribution platform, which now boasts 35 million members) place us in an ideal position to leverage these two opportunities.”

Outlook

Sales for the second quarter of 2012-13

The second quarter will see the release of many online and digital titles, particularly the open beta of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Online.

Sales for the second quarter of 2012-13 are expected to come in at approximately €110 million, lower than the same period of 2011-12, which, notably, saw the release of Driver® San-Francisco.

Full-year 2012-13

The Company is standing by its previously announced targets for full-year 2012-13. Namely, Ubisoft forecasts sales of between €1,160 million and €1,200 million and current operating income[1] of between €70 million and €90 million.

Signature of a new syndicated loan agreement

On July 9, 2012, Ubisoft signed a new five-year syndicated loan agreement for an amount of €215 million. The operation was significantly oversubscribed as it was initially expected to total €180 million, the same amount as in the Company’s previous five-year agreement which was signed in May 2008. Also during the period, the Company cancelled two bilateral credit facilities totaling €70 million that were due to expire in May 2013. As a result of the new syndicated loan Ubisoft’s financing has been secured for the next five years.

Significant events

Market share: In the first six months of calendar 2012, Ubisoft was the number 4 independent publisher in the United States with 7.7% market share (compared with number 4 and 7.1% one year earlier) and number 3 in Europe with 8.1% market share (compared with number 3 and 7.1%).