Listed games developer plays to its strengths in first six months on the stock exchange
Sheffield headquartered games development business Sumo Group has this morning reported a strong set of debut stock exchange results.
The firm, which floated in December last year, said the 60% rise in revenues to £22.9m, up from £14.3m in the same period, had been driven fundamentally by organic growth. Its pre-tax losses were reduced to £1.8m from £2m in the same period last year.
In the period, Sumo Digital took on the Newcastle studio of CCP Games on 1 January 2018, further strengthening the relationship with CCP Game, adding 34 people to the team. It also acquired The Chinese Room, based in Brighton, in August 2018 to accelerate the Group’s own-IP pipeline and provide new intellectual property.
Andrea Dunstan has today joined the Group, as a non-executive director and chair of the Remuneration Committee, bringing extensive experience of organisational development and HR strategy.
Sumo added: “For the first time, the financial results reflect the cost of share based incentive schemes. One of the main reasons why the Group became a public listed company was to use the quoted shares to incentivise our people. The Sumo Group plc Long Term Incentive Plan and the Sumo Group plc Share Incentive Plan were launched in March 2018 and July 2018 respectively. There is a non cash charge of £1.1m in the first half of 2018 to reflect the cost of the first of these plans.”
Speaking the TheBusinessDesk.com this morning, CFO David Wilton said that the group currently employed 554 people and he expected that to rise to 600 – around 300 of which will be based in Sheffield – by the end of this year. He said: “We are building a platform for growth.”
“These are our maiden Plc results and we are pleased to be able to be in line with what we wanted them to be; it has been another good accounting period. The business is in great shape.
“We are a people business, it is all about growing the skills of the team and that is what we have done.”
Wilton added that the firm was pursuing further growth and acquisition opportunities and it would be a very exciting full year ahead, given it was an “exciting” time to be in the games development market.
Carl Cavers, Chief Executive Officer of Sumo Group, said: “These results cover our first half year period as an AIM quoted company. The business is flourishing under this new, independent capital structure and I am delighted to report an excellent performance in H1, driven by continued strong organic growth in our core services. We are seeing exciting business development opportunities, as the video gaming market continues to grow globally. This, combined with our low risk business model, gives us a great deal of confidence in the ongoing success of the business.
“Our investment in people and locations continues, as demonstrated by our recent acquisition of The Chinese Room in Brighton, an industry hot spot. We have strengthened the Board to support growth. We are a people business and the appointment of Andrea Dunstan, with her people expertise, shows our absolute commitment to ensuring that Sumo Group is in the best possible shape to attract and retain exceptional talent.”
