CDM.L Regulatory News (CDM)

09 October 2019

Codemasters Group Holdings Plc

("Codemasters" or the "Company")

Trading update

Codemasters (AIM: CDM), the video game developer and publisher specialising in high quality racing games, is pleased to provide the following trading update following the conclusion of its half year ended 30 September 2019 ('H1 2020').

The Company has generated revenue of £39.8 million for the six-month period versus £39.7 million for the same period last year ('H1 2019'). Digital sales as a proportion of revenue continue to increase, representing 61.7% of total sales in the period (53% H1 2019), resulting in an improved gross margin of 89.3% (88.5% H1 2019). The Group had net cash as at 30 September of £24.6 million (£17 million H1 2019).

As a result of the strong financial performance in the first half, the Board is confident that the results for the full year will be in line with its expectations.

Codemasters has a portfolio of racing games and generates sales through both new releases as well as through its existing catalogue of titles. Trading in the first half benefitted from the launch of the annual instalment of the F1 franchise, F1 2019, on 28 June 2019, as well as the Company's back catalogue of games.

F1 2019 has received widespread critical acclaim. Due to the earlier release date of this year's instalment, in June rather than August, launching two months earlier to move the release date closer to the start of the season, it has made a more significant contribution to revenue in the first half. The Company anticipates that F1 2019 will still benefit from the normal promotions around the Black Friday and Christmas periods, which have historically delivered strong sales for prior versions of the F1 game.

The performance of the Company's back catalogue has also been strong thanks to the accelerated growth of the digital business reflecting the longer life cycle of high-quality products. The Company expects digital growth to continue with future releases.

The Company will shortly be releasing GRID, its first release of this franchise since 2014 and for the first time on this generation of Sony and Microsoft consoles, on 11 October 2019. The release of GRID has been timed to take advantage of the peak release season, and close to the November launch of Google's cloud gaming service Stadia, which features GRID as a launch title.

The Company expects to publish its results for the six months ended 30 September 2019 on 26 November 2019.

This announcement is released by Codemasters Group Holdings plc and contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For the purposes of MAR and Articles 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this announcement is being made on behalf of the Company by Rashid Varachia, Chief Financial Officer.

ABOUT CODEMASTERS:

Codemasters (AIM:CDM) is an award winning British video game developer and publisher with over 30 years of heritage. The company specialises in high quality racing games including DiRT, GRID and the BAFTA award-winning official F1® series of videogames.

Codemasters' LEI number is: 213800NOITSDQVNP5W91