The Angry Birds earned Rovio quite a bit of chicken scratch in 2011
The Angry Birds are quite a catch, it seems. Franchise creator Rovio announced this morning that earnings in 2011 topped $100 million, which it owes solely to sales of the Angry Birds franchise. "The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed noted in the press release. "To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services." The company earned approximately $67.6 million in pre-tax profit in 2011, or about 64 percent of total revenue.
Hed doesn't necessarily mean branching out from his company's most popular franchise, of course. Especially not after such a big year for merchandising surrounding the Angry Birds – Rovio's "consumer products" unit took in "about 30 percent" of 2011's total earnings (approximately $31.9 million). That's a lot of Angry Birds gummy snacks!
Rovio's $106.3 million in revenue (not profit, mind you, but revenue) is owed primarily to growth in the Finnish company's Angry Birds games catalog, which expanded by just one game in 2011: a movie tie-in named "Angry Birds Rio." The games have been downloaded approximately 648 million times across all platforms as of Dec. 31, 2011, and have a monthly user base of approximately 200 million.
[Image credit: Flickr user 'Nearsoft']
Show full PR text
Rovio Entertainment reports 2011 financial results
Solid performance across all business areas
Helsinki, Finland – Rovio Entertainment Ltd, the world's leading provider of mobile entertainment and creator of the Angry Birds franchise, today had the pleasure of announcing the financial results for the full calendar year of 2011.
Total revenue amounted to €75.4 million ($106,3 million) driven by strong growth in game download activity and consumer product sales. Earnings before tax were €48,0 million ($67.6 million) or 64% of total revenue in 2011.
"The strong growth in revenue clearly demonstrates the popularity of the Angry Birds brand." Mikael Hed, Rovio CEO said. "The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products. To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services."
The Angry Birds franchise fuels Rovio's performance
The financial outcome of 2011 is very positive for Rovio. Rovio's different business areas, Games, Advertising, and Consumer Products, are fully rolled out and generated both revenue and profit.
The Consumer Products business area, which includes both Merchandising and Licensing income, generated revenues that represent a about 30% of total revenue in 2011. The company was working together with more than 200 licensing partners on developing new products and services within the Angry Birds franchise.
Rovio's game offerings in 2011 consisted of three games, all based on the Angry Birds characters: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio. The games are available as both free and paid versions on all popular mobile and connected devices. The total number of game downloads reached 648 million by the end of year 2011 and the total number of active monthly users, across all platforms, reached 200 million.
The number of employees grew from 28 to 224 during the year 2011.
Market and business development expectations
Future sales will to a large extent depend on the launch schedules and success of new games and initiatives in 2012. As sales of new devices remain the main driver for mobile game downloads, Rovio expects business to continue to grow accordingly.
"We are very optimistic about 2012 due to significant investments in product development, cutting-edge branding, brand protection and corporate infrastructure," Mikael Hed said.
Notes:
- Currency exchange rates EUR/USD is based on 2011 median of 1,41.
- Rovio Entertainment Oy´s financial figures have been prepared in accordance with Finnish Accounting Standards (FAS).
