Catalis SE, the UK group providing development, testing and publishing services for the global video games market, provides a trading update for the year to 31 December 2018 (“FY18”).

2018 has been a transformational year in which the Group has seen significant organic growth across both its Testing and Publishing Divisions.

The Board is pleased to announce that it expects Group revenues for FY18 to be at least €43m (FY17 €25m) representing a year-on-year growth of 72%. FY18 Group EBITDA is expected to be at least €8m (FY17 €4m).

The Publishing Division (Curve Digital), which saw sales increase by 130% to €23m (FY17 €10m) during the year, has benefited from the continuing success of Human: Fall Flat, which has sold over 5 million units to date, and strong portfolio sales which now includes over 35 titles. This success was recognised in the industry, with Curve Digital winning the MCV Indie Games Publisher of the Year 2018.

The Group continues to increase investment in third party titles, with the majority of Curve Digital’s release schedule for 2019 and 2020 now in place. The line-up includes a game based on the hit Netflix show, Narcos, and another title based on Peaky Blinders – the award-winning BBC drama.

Testronic had an exceptional year in FY18, with sales of quality assurance and customer support services increasing to more than €20m (FY17 €15m) in the year. The strong organic growth of 33% in the Testronic Division was driven by the impact of new video games customers, an uplift in work from existing game clients, and new media streaming clients. The growth was mainly serviced out of Poland, with a significant increase in the team size and footprint within the Warsaw facility to deliver the increased sales.

During the year, Testronic was also recognised within the industry, winning the Develop Award for QA & Localisation. With a broad portfolio of clients, the Division remains well positioned to support further organic growth in 2019.

The Group has ended the year with cash at bank of €5m (FY17 €2m) after investing €4m (FY17 €1m) on future titles. The strong cash generation in the year has put the Group in a good position to invest in the future of the business.

Dominic Wheatley, Chief Executive Officer of Catalis SE commented –

“We are delighted with the Group’s performance during the year with strong growth across both the Testing and Publishing divisions in both revenue and profit.”

“Curve Digital has grown rapidly in the year into a significant UK publisher which has allowed the Group to further strengthen the line-up of games for 2019, 2020 and beyond through greater investment and enhanced ability to attract high quality third-party games.”

“We look forward to another strong year of progress in both our divisions with continued investment in high-quality games at Curve and further investment in our teams in Testronic, to support the growth of the division.”

Notes
(1) All figures in this document are unaudited and have been rounded to the nearest million.
(2) EBITDA means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, and excludes non-recurring items.

For further information:

Catalis SE
Dominic Wheatley, CEO
Andrew Lawton, Corporate Finance and Strategy Director
+44 (0) 7703 519550
investors@catalisgroup.com

About Catalis
Catalis is a diversified UK gaming company focused on the development, testing and publishing of video games. It operates through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Kuju Entertainment, Testronic Laboratories and Curve Digital from seven locations located in the US, the UK and Poland.

Testronic (Testing & Support Services)
Testronic is an award-winning provider of quality assurance services the digital entertainment sector. With over 500 full time equivalents based between the US, the UK and Poland, Testronic has the capacity to deal with projects of any size, from mobile games through to blockbuster console titles and its clients include AAA game publishers and major TV/Film studios.

Curve Digital (Publishing)
Curve Digital is based in the UK and is one of the world’s leading publishers of independent console and PC games. With hit titles such as the hugely successful Human: Fall Flat and Bomber Crew amongst its 35 strong portfolio of games, Curve is positioned well in the indie space and works with some of the best developers out there to bring their games to the widest possible audiences.

Kuju Entertainment (Developing)
Kuju is part of Curve Digital. Kuju is a renowned games development studio that historically created titles on a ‘work-for-hire’ basis for games publishers. In 2016 Catalis purchased Curve Digital Publishing, as part of the execution of the Group’s strategy. Kuju is finishing it’s last ‘work-for-hire’ game and is now working on games to be published by Curve Digital, acting as a ‘first party’ developer and in-house studio.