PRESS RELEASE: BIGBEN: 1st HALF 2022/23 SALES: 138.5 M€

                                                Press release

           Lesquin, 24 October 2022 18 :00

1^st HALF 2022/23 SALES: 138.5 M€ (+11.5%)

BIGBEN INTERACTIVE (ISIN FR0000074072) today announces its consolidated sales for the first half of FY 2022-2023 (period from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022).

Highlights

- With a 19.1% increase in sales in the first half of the year to 60.9 M€, BIGBEN Audiovideo/Telco sported a sustained growth, mainly due to the strong momentum of its "Mobile" business.

- NACON Gaming recorded a 6.2% increase in sales to 77.5 M€ in the first half. Video games grew by 72.3% to 47.0 M€, although the total activity was still impacted by the weakness of the accessories market.

Sales for Q2 2022-23 at 68.4 M€

NACON GAMING posted 35.2 M€ sales for Q2 2022-23

VIDEO GAMES: Catalogue sales (new games) rose by 31.0% to 10.5 M€, driven by the latest releases. The quarter saw the release of Steelrising^TM and Session Skate Sim^TM in September. However Catalogue sales for the period, although thriving, remained below the Group's forecast.
The very good performance of the Back Catalogue (games released in previous years) posting sales up 25.7% to 8.9 M€, validates the Group's medium-term strategy.

ACCESSORIES: Over the quarter, Accessories sales came to 14.6 M€, down 37.2%. This business remained impacted by a very high base effect, particularly in the USA, and by a sharp decline in the global headset market.

BIGBEN – Audiovideo/Telco posted sales of 33.3 M€ in the second quarter of 2022-23, up 18.1%.

Very good performance by Mobile Accessories: Despite a contraction in volumes in the Mobile market, sales in this business rose by 16.6% to 25.3 M€ in the quarter, boosted by the removal of original chargers and pedestrian kits from the majority of new smartphones and by the high sales (+34%) of the Force® ranges.

AudioVideo recorded sales of 8.0 M€, up 25% compared to Q2 2021-22.

Over the first half of the current financial year, BIGBEN - Audiovideo/Telco recorded a 19.1% growth to 60.9 M€. Mobile accessories were up 16.4% to 46.9 M€ and AudioVideo was up 29.6% to 14.0 M€ (including 6.1 M€ from the consolidation of Metronic).

Expected trends for the second half of the year

NACON GAMING

After the release of Vampire: The Masquerade®- Swansong, Session Skate Sim^TM and Steelrising^TM in the first half of the year, publishing will see busy news in the second half of 2022-23.

The third quarter will see the release after a two-month slippage of WRC Generations. Recognised as the best rally game on the market´, it will bring together all the generations of cars (from 1973 to 2022) for the first time.
In addition, several games scheduled for Q3 will finally be released in Q4:
- Blood Bowl® 3, a game close to American football in a fantasy environment, a new installment in the successful Blood Bowl franchise.
- Chef Life, in partnership with the Michelin Guide.
- Clash, in the thriving fighting game segment.
- Transport Fever 2 Console Edition, for PlayStation^®4, PlayStation^®5, Xbox One and Xbox Series.

In Accessories, despite the commercial success of the RIG pro Series 300, 500 and 800 gaming headsets, activity in the second half of the year should remain on the same trend as in the first half.

BIGBEN AUDIOVIDEO/TELCO

In the second half of the year, Bigben AudioVideo/Telco's activity will continue to be driven by the very good sales momentum of the Premium brands and by the confirmed listing of the new range of Audio products for the end-of-year celebrations/seasonal sales.

In the second half of the year, BIGBEN - Audiovideo/Telco will continue to grow with the extension of the Force® ranges and the increase in synergies with the Metronic group in France and abroad.

FY 2022-23 targets

Given the current news at NACON Gaming, with Catalogue sales that will be below expectations, due in particular to the later release of several major games, to a downturn in the Accessories business and to tensions in the supply of new consoles, the BIGBEN Group will not be in a position to achieve its FY 2022-23 target i.e. sales of 400 M€ and a current operating income in excess of 55 M€.

Nevertheless, sales for the year and the current operating income of the BIGBEN Group will be higher than in the previous year.

Concerning NACON Gaming, the highly anticipated release of The Lord of the Rings Gollum^TM , an iconic character from the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, is.now scheduled for 2023.

FY 2023-24 targets

NACON Gaming anticipates a strong growth driven both by sales of games to be released at the end of FY 2022-23 which will thus feed the back catalogue, and by a qualitative and varied publishing output. This development of the back catalogue will automatically accelerate growth and have a positive impact on operating profitability.

Banking on a growth expected to be sustained for NACON Gaming and on the BIGBEN Audiovideo/Telco business expected to remain buoyant in FY 2023-24, the Group expects a strong growth as from the next financial year and reaffirms its confidence in its medium-term prospects.

Upcoming events:

Half-year results 2022-2023
Monday 28 November 2022 : Press release after close of the Paris stock exchange
Tuesday 29 November 2022 : SFAF Meeting

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