Profits at video game maker Team17 rise despite challenging new release market

British video game developer Team17 reported double-digit growth in the firs half, helped by the launch of new games, while profits rose by nearly a quarter.

Revenues totalled a record £80.6m in the six month to 30 June, up 11% on the previous year, helped by first-party IP growing 25% to represent 42% of group turnover, up from 37% a year earlier.

The company launched nine new games during the period including three new apps, while four existing games were released on additional platforms.

Meanwhile, "exceptional" lifecycle management delivered back catalogue revenue growth of 30%, accounting for 92% of group revenues, up from 79% last year.

Adjusted pre-tax profit rose 23% year-on-year to £19.2m, while cash and cash equivalents rose 20% to £54.3m.

On the downside, due to a challenging new release market, the company booked a £4.6m impairment across a small number of titles for 2024 and 2025.

"I am pleased with the Group's performance during the first half as we continue to focus on driving sales through first-party IP titles and across our extensive portfolio, with strong demand for our games and apps across the group," said chief executive Steve Bell.

Looking ahead, Team17 expects to hit market expectations for 2024. New release revenues are expected to be higher in the second half, driven by the anticipated physically distributed third-party new releases at its German video game publisher Astragon.

"While H1 2024 did benefit from the favourable phasing of license deals, together with strong summer sales and social media support on key titles, the group's back catalogue is expected to deliver another good performance in H2 2024," the company said.

The stock was up 2.7% at 220.8p by 1013 BST.