Frontier Developments Share Discussion Threads

[p1nkfish] 09/2/2017 20:51

Ardent Planet Coaster player recreates Hogwarts.

[p1nkfish] 09/2/2017 20:50

FDEV - Feb 2017 - "based on an enduring movie franchise of global renown."

NBC, Warner - Aug 2016 - “We are pleased to bring one of the most successful and enduring global franchises to the networks of NBCUniversal,”

Next Fantastic Beats (5 in total) is Nov 2018, first released 2-3 months back.

Warner Bros will be rolling out across multiple platforms for all franchise, inc Fantastic Beasts.

[hastings] 09/2/2017 20:35

Lol makw61, if it is where I think it is, then there should indeed be ample room to pass on the pedals, depending of course on how the headcount rises.

A few words from the Cambridge News, a nice pic of a smiling Mr Braben and a further suggestion of Harry Potter from the scribe!

[makw61] 09/2/2017 17:14

Big trade at 285p. 237k shares bought by the looks of it so maybe some institutional interest at last?

[makw61] 09/2/2017 15:48

Hi Hastings, the world of licensing is hard to decipher from the outside but from what i can gather Disney own the film rights to the Star Wars universe and films 7 onwards but the film rights for films 1-6 are still with 20th Century Fox with all but episode IV transferring to Disney in 2020. I believe therefore that Disney do own all the gaming rights as part of the SW universe but as an EA shareholder i also know that EA have a very successful Star Wars game for mobile (Galaxy of Heroes). It's got over a million reviews on the Android store and is categorised at between 10m and 50m downloads. It's free to play but "pay to win" in that it's monetised by selling in-game items. Much as we would like to see David B make a star wars game i still feel HP is favourite.

I guess i would also expect the new franchise to be completely different to the first two.

The good news is that Frontier appear to be sorting out their parking problem by moving to larger premises so maybe the push bike can be deferred for a few more visit?

ATB

[hastings] 09/2/2017 15:08

Rivaldo, good to see you here!Interesting that from what I can find, (may be wrong) that Disney appeared to have retained the rights to Star Wars for mobile and online gaming.It is I believe David Braben's favourite film too so would no doubt be close to his heart in terms of producing a worthy gaming experience.Perhaps my enthusiastic imagination is running away with itself, but one can dream.

[rivaldo] 09/2/2017 13:56

I bought a few of these for the first time this morning.

Terrific results, and for the first time ever it looks pretty reasonable value on an earnings/EBITDA basis!

Above all, the management team look great and seem to have a stable and strong vision of where they're going.

There's a little bit of stock around online at around 285p, and otherwise there's up to 10k available at 289p. That should be cleared fairly easily after these results, and then let's see where the share price goes.

OT : hastings, you should have nagged me harder when the price was 200p :o))

[makw61] 09/2/2017 12:43

Pretty sure EA hold the Star Wars licence. HP seems most likely, but based perhaps on Fantastic Beasts and follow-ups rather than the original books/films.

I would agree that the company is probably unable to disclose the licence currently due to having signed a non-disclosure agreement. The information is probably price-sensitive so they would be obliged to announce it to the market otherwise.

No surprises at all in the results, or really very much in the way of new info. They've confirmed that work has already started on the third franchise which makes sense in the context of a 2018 release.

Not really expecting much price movement until the PS4 release and further news around the third franchise tbh, but who knows?

GLA

[hastings] 09/2/2017 11:47

Star Wars The Last Jedi due in December of this year, just a thought.

[culford] 09/2/2017 11:37

Is there a JKRowling film due out in 2018? Presume game will be launched with a new film and that secrecy is due to confidentiality agreement on this film. I think we have had all the Hogworts films so more likely Disney or Marvel tie up?

[hastings] 09/2/2017 11:37

Not Star Wars then!

[p1nkfish] 09/2/2017 11:26

99% sure it's JL Rowling and studio may have control on exposure. Big money.

Hope it has VR roll out along the Dev path. Should be more mainstream by 2018.

[culford] 09/2/2017 10:50

TGI
I think it will take time for market to digest the results. Fully expect shares to rerate up to 450p over next few months. Company is expanding rapidly on an organic basis which investors should like. Wish they could talk about 3rd, film linked, franchise...

[mark4231] 09/2/2017 10:47

Excellent interim results, as I think we all expected. Once the rest of the world catches on I would expect a decent share price increase but when will they realise?

[phowdo] 09/2/2017 10:43

How fast do they pay out?

From memory its upto 30 days following calender month of the sales (less some withholding amount for fraud & returns)
So sales in November will have been paid by 30th December.

[culford] 09/2/2017 10:27

hpcg
FDEV launched PC in last two weeks of the half and sold c250k copies, or c£7.5m. These are paid after 30 days, hence spike in year end receivables. Underlying cash position over £10m now. Revenue run rate now up around £40m per annum so in launch 2 weeks sold almost 20% of annualised revenues.

[thegaminginvestor] 09/2/2017 10:26

Re receivables. I wonder what the terms are with Steam. How fast do they pay out? If this stock was listed on a different exchange todays report would boost it at least 20%. On a trailing 12m basis PE is 20. For a company with this growth that is ridicules.

[phowdo] 09/2/2017 10:25

^ Steam release of PlanetCoaster.

[hpcg] 09/2/2017 10:16

What's with the big lump of receivables? That is 6 month's revenue. Unusual for a company to highlight, but I guess they have to otherwise cash would look strange.

[p1nkfish] 09/2/2017 09:52

Cobra has very real value too. Hard to quantify exactly what value but it is a proven asset.

bamboo - any TA?

[culford] 09/2/2017 08:41

Adjusting for the c£1.4m currency hedging loss in H1, the operating cash flow rose to c£7.5m in H1 or an annualised £15m. Would suggest that this fast growing business should be on at least 10x operating cash flow, or £150m - suggesting 50% upside from current market value of c£100m or a target price of 450p. The net cash position must be >£10m now after the short term working capital build up around the launch of PC.

Very little new news with FDEV being coy on third game/film franchise still and on exact launch date of ED on PS4. Staffing has grown by 10% and launch of 3rd game is scheduled for 2018, suggesting work has begun.

[hastings] 09/2/2017 07:43

Agreed on a couple of counts p1nkfish, momentum building, will be interesting to see what the brokers have to say this morning.

[p1nkfish] 09/2/2017 07:34

RNS results.

I was looking to average up as it has settled but it will probably run away so will live with the holding I have and just think myself lucky to have bought when I did. Never mind.

They have strengthened many management areas with what look like useful people and getting ready for even higher growth.

EPS growth - very impressive.

[staverly] 08/2/2017 18:42

Why did Alex Bevis cross the road?
One might reasonably imagine this savvy, soon to be ex Xaar FD was persuaded by this powerful opportunity.

[p1nkfish] 06/2/2017 19:23

It's jk Rowling.