The investment group, Eurazeo, recently posted their 2016 annual results, which is of interest to us gamers as Eurazeo hold a controlling investment in board game giant, Asmodee. The Eurazeo report contains a paragraph on Asmodee’s financial performance last year.

Unfortunately, we get nothing like the detail found in a GW financial report, but some figures and nuggets of information are given. The headline figure is the overall revenue which is up by 39.5% to €377.2 million, though at constant scope and exchange rates the growth is 18.5%.

The report doesn’t give a net profit for Asmodee, but rather an EBITDA figure of €65.2 million, up 57.5% (23.7% at constant scope and exchange rates). This doesn’t take into account interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation. As Asmodee does have a fairly substantial debt, it’d be interesting to know from someone savvier in this matter how useful the EBITDA figure is if it isn’t taking into account interest on the debt.

Asmodee has undertaken a series of acquisitions since Eurazeo took a controlling interest, the most high profile of which is arguably Fantasy Flight Games, who not only added their own significant revenues to Asmodee but also provided the French-based company with a greater foothold in the North American market.

These acquisitions have helped spur Asmodee’s revenue growth in recent years, in addition to a growth in company debt, which the report puts at a net €223.6 million following a refinancing last year.

One of the major acquisitions last year was F2Z Entertainment, owners in turn of Z-Man Games and Plaid Hat Games, publishers of the hit board game franchises Pandemic and Dead of Winter respectively. Asmodee also acquired Bergsala Enigma at the start of last year, a major distributor of board and card games in the Nordic countries. The report highlights card games in general, and European sales of Pokémon in particular, as being robust last year.

The ICv2 survey of the North American hobby market also highlighted Pokémon as having an especially strong 2016 there too. It would be interesting to know how much of the revenue growth last year is accounted for by the acquisition of F2Z Entertainment and Bergsala Enigma, and how much is from sales growth of existing lines.

Asmodee’s attempts to expand internationally through their acquisitions seems to be paying off, as the report mentions that fully 75% of their revenue is now derived from outside of France, and particularly from the US and the UK (which also happen to be GW’s two biggest markets by country).

The full Eurazeo report can be found HERE. The section on Asmodee is on page four and is also reprinted towards the bottom of the Asmodee page on the Eurazeo website. Should anyone want to jump in on Asmodee’s EBITDA in the comments, please do feel free.

By Ben Clapperton

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