Q4 2026 Frontier Developments PLC Earnings Call

September 9, 2026

Speaker #1: To join. Tommy, you're up with the slides, though. I keep seeing a blue flower—is that just me?

Alex Bevis: To join. Tommy, are you all right with the slides there? I keep seeing a blue flower, but is that just me?

Speaker #2: You're seeing it, right?

Jo Cooke: Can you see them all right?

Speaker #1: Yeah, I can see it now, yeah. Let's just give it another 30 seconds to see if anyone else is going to join us. Joe, your background is trumping mine significantly there.

Alex Bevis: Yeah, I can see it now. Just give it another 30 seconds to see if anyone else is going to join us. Jo, your background is trumping mine significantly there.

Jo Cooke: I made a special effort.

Speaker #1: That's very nice. It's not even a virtual one—that's real, isn't it?

Alex Bevis: It is very nice. It is not even a virtual one. That is real, is not it?

Speaker #3: No, it's real. Very much real.

Jo Cooke: No, it is real. Very much real.

Speaker #1: Okay, why don't we get started then. So, thanks, everyone, for joining us for this FY26 financial results presentation. If you could please all turn your cameras off and go on mute, we'll have a Q&A session at the end where you can unmute and ask your questions.

Alex Bevis: Okay. Why do not we get started then? Thanks everyone for joining us for this FY26 financial results presentation. If you could please all turn your cameras off and go on mute. We will have a Q&A session at the end where you can unmute and ask your question. Let us just flick over, Tom, please, to the agenda. First of all, we will do a bit of a leadership recap and update. Jo will then take us through her core focus areas and a reminder on the strategy. We will then talk about the financials and then come back and talk about our games, both the current franchises and the future games. Then we will have a quick wrap up and then move to questions. Starting with the leadership section. I think as everyone knows, we have had quite a change in leadership over the last 12 months.

Speaker #1: So, let's just flick over, Tom, please, to the agenda. So, first of all, we'll do a bit of a leadership recap and update. Joe will then take us through her core focus areas and a reminder on the strategy.

Speaker #1: We'll then talk about the financials, and then come back and talk about our games—both the current franchises and the future games. Then we'll have a quick wrap-up and move to questions.

Speaker #1: So starting with the leadership section. So I think as everyone knows, we've had quite a change in leadership over the last 12 months. In 20— in June 2025, we established an executive board to lead the next phase of Frontier's evolution.

Alex Bevis: In June 2025, we established an executive board to lead the next phase of Frontier's evolution. Jo joined us as CMO in August 2025. Jonny decided to step down after some 27 years at Frontier. I think he had certainly done his stint at Frontier by then, and the obvious successor there was Jo to step up into that role. Jo, do you want to take over from that timeline point?

Speaker #1: Joe joined us as CMO in August 2025. Johnny decided to step down after some 27 years at Frontier, so I think he'd certainly done his stint at Frontier by then.

Speaker #1: And the obvious successor there was Joe to step up into that role. So, Joe, do you want to take over from that timeline point?

Speaker #3: Yeah, sure. Thanks, Alex. Well, for those who don't know me, I started working in the games industry over 35 years ago, and this is not my first time at Frontier.

Jo Cooke: Well, for those who don't know me, I started working in the games industry over 35 years ago, and this is not my first time in Frontier. I originally joined the business to establish the publishing team to launch Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster, and I returned in 2025 as CMO because I believed really strongly in both the quality of our franchises and the potential of the CMS strategy that was being put in place. Following Jonny's departure early this year, I was delighted to step into the CEO role and lead Frontier into its next phase of growth, hired a new CMO to bolster the exec board in Dan Lazarides, and importantly, this has not meant a change in strategic direction.

Speaker #3: I originally joined the business to establish the publishing team to launch Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster. And I returned in 2025 as CMO because I believed really strongly in both the quality of our franchises and the potential of the CMS strategy that was being put in place.

Speaker #3: So, following Johnny's departure early this year, I was delighted to step into the CEO role and lead Frontier into its next phase of growth. We hired a new CMO to bolster the exec board in Dan Lazaridis. And, importantly, this is not meant to change in strategic direction.

Jo Cooke: The confidence in the future direction of management has given David Braben the confidence to step down and take a non-executive advisory position, and we welcome him to our corporate board. The CMS strategy established over the last few years is working, and our FY26 results demonstrate that clearly. We have delivered record profitability, strong revenue growth, and significant cash generation. My focus since returning has been on building on that foundation by placing even greater emphasis on our players and on the long-term nurturing of our games and our franchises. We know the greatest value in our business comes from creating games and franchises that players engage with for many years, not just at launch. By listening closely to our communities, using player data more effectively, and delivering a constant cadence of updates, expansions, and premium content.

Speaker #3: Our confidence—the confidence in the future direction and management—has given David Braben the confidence to step down and take a non-executive advisory position, and we welcome him to our corporate board.

Speaker #3: The CMS strategy, established over the last few years, is working. And our fiscal '26 results demonstrate that clearly. We have delivered record profitability, strong revenue growth, and significant cash generation.

Speaker #3: My focus since returning has been on building on that foundation by placing even greater emphasis on our players and on the long-term nurturing of our games and our franchises.

Speaker #3: We know the greatest value in our business comes from creating games and franchises that players engage with for many years, not just at launch.

Speaker #3: By listening closely to our communities, using player data more effectively, and delivering a constant cadence of updates, expansions, and premium content, we can— can somebody mute the— whoever's not on mute, would you mind going on mute?

Jo Cooke: Can somebody mute the. Whoever's not on mute, would you mind going on mute? Thank you. Appreciate it. Using player data more effectively, delivering a consistent cadence of updates, expansions, and premium content, we can increase engagement, improve retention, and maximize lifetime value. This player-first approach now sits at the heart of everything we do. It informs how we develop games, how we invest in content, how we prioritize our roadmap, and how we create long-term shareholder value. We have exceptional talent across Frontier, a growing portfolio of world-class CMS franchises, a strong balance sheet and a clear strategy. This makes me really excited about the opportunities ahead. Strategy and focus, if you move on. Thank you. Our strategy remains clear and highly focused.

Speaker #3: Thank you, appreciate it. By using player data more effectively and delivering a consistent cadence of updates, expansions, and premium content, we can increase engagement, improve retention, and maximize lifetime value.

Speaker #3: This player-first approach now sits at the heart of everything we do. It informs how we develop games, how we invest in content, how we prioritize our roadmap, and how we create long-term shareholder value.

Speaker #3: We have exceptional talent across Frontier, a growing portfolio of world-class CMS franchises, a strong balance sheet, and a clear strategy. This makes me really excited about the opportunities ahead.

Speaker #3: So, strategy and focus. If you move on—thank you. Our strategy remains clear and highly focused. We're strengthening Frontier's position as a global leader in creative management sim games.

Jo Cooke: We are strengthening Frontier's position as a global leader in creative management sim games by putting players first, nurturing existing franchises, and building the next generation of CMS experiences through new game launches. We will continue nurturing our existing games through regular updates, expansions, and premium downloadable content. We will deepen our understanding of player behavior so that we can deliver better experiences, improve retention, and increase engagement across our portfolio. We will continue growing our CMS portfolio through both established franchises and new intellectual property, and we will continue investing in Cobra, which is our proprietary technology platform that provides us with a clear competitive advantage. It enables us to deliver increasingly sophisticated CMS experiences efficiently and at scale. Finally, we will continue investing in our people, retaining key talent and developing future expertise through our graduate program.

Speaker #3: By putting players first, nurturing existing franchises, and building the next generation of CMS experiences through new game launches, we will continue nurturing our existing games through regular updates, expansions, and premium downloadable content.

Speaker #3: We'll deepen our understanding of player behavior so that we can better deliver improved experiences, enhance retention, and increase engagement across our portfolio. We'll continue growing our CMS portfolio through both established franchises and new intellectual property.

Speaker #3: And we'll continue investing in COBRA, which is our proprietary technology platform that provides us with a clear competitive advantage and enables us to deliver increasingly sophisticated CMS experiences efficiently and at scale.

Speaker #3: And finally, we will continue investing in our people, retaining key talent, and developing future expertise through our graduate program. FY26 demonstrates not only strong growth, but a fundamentally lower-risk business model for us.

Jo Cooke: FY26 demonstrates not only strong growth but a fundamentally lower risk business model for us. Alex will talk further about the numbers, but you can see on this slide that FY26 has been a good year for Frontier. These results have been delivered by proven CMS franchises, recurring nurture revenue, and disciplined execution. We are increasingly becoming a business that is driven by long-term franchise economics. Looking ahead, we have an excellent roadmap. Planet Zoo 2 launches next month. Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch is scheduled for FY27. We have already talked about and announced a brand new Planet franchise title, and that is planned for FY28. Beyond that, we remain committed to an average cadence of one CMS title a year. We have announced our exciting partnership with Disney last week, and that represents a significant milestone in our growth strategy moving forward.

Speaker #3: Alex will talk further about the numbers, but you can see on this slide that FY26 has been a good year for Frontier. These results have been delivered by proven CMS franchises, recurring nurture revenue, and disciplined execution.

Speaker #3: We're increasingly becoming a business that is driven by long-term franchise economics. And looking ahead, we have an excellent roadmap. Planet Zoo 2 launches next month.

Speaker #3: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Death Watch is scheduled for fiscal year '27. And we've already talked about and announced a brand-new Planet franchise title, and that's planned for fiscal year '28.

Speaker #3: Beyond that, we remain committed to an average cadence of one CMS title a year. We announced our exciting partnership with Disney last week, and that represents a significant milestone in our growth strategy moving forward.

Speaker #3: Over to you, Alex.

Jo Cooke: Over to you, Alex.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Joe. So, a little bit more on the numbers there. I'm sure you've all read the statement already, but we're delighted with that revenue performance, driven by the success of Jurassic World Evolution 3, but also the rest of the portfolio is doing very well.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Jo. A little bit more on the numbers there. I am sure you have all read the statement already, but delighted with that revenue performance driven by the success of Jurassic World Evolution 3, but also the rest of the portfolio doing very well. Jo will talk a bit more about the current franchises in a few minutes on some of the other slides, but really pleased to get to just under GBP 105 million. That is our second highest ever revenue number, so great performance. On gross profit margin, as you all know, I think that tends to vary based on how much we have in terms of licensed IP games versus own IP games. With the success there of Jurassic World Evolution 3, gross margin has just ticked down a few points to just under 67%.

Speaker #1: And Joe will talk a bit more about the current franchises in a few minutes on some of the other slides. But really pleased to get to just under $105 million.

Speaker #1: That's our second-highest ever revenue number, so a great performance. On gross profit margin, as you all know, I think that tends to vary based on how much we have in terms of licensed IP games versus own IP games.

Speaker #1: With the success there of Jurassic World Evolution 3, gross margin has just ticked down a few points to just under 67%. Looking ahead to this year, where we have fiscal '27, we have Planet Zoo 2 as the big release.

Alex Bevis: Looking ahead to this year, where we have financial 27, we have Planet Zoo 2 as the big release. We expect that number to come back up maybe to 68%, something like that. Gross operating costs, this is an adjusted income statement, not an IFRS income statement, so we ignore any capitalization, amortization, share charges. Any of the non-cash accounting charges are excluded from here. This is gross operating costs on a cash basis, effectively. We only increased by 3% year on year, so we are continuing to exhibit very strong cost control. Having said that, we are growing a little bit on the headcount cautiously. We are investing in a few other areas to expand our franchises as well. In fact, the biggest cost increase year on year was the profit-related bonus because we have an all-staff profit share scheme.

Speaker #1: We expect that number to come back up, maybe to 68%, something like that. Gross operating costs—so this is an adjusted income statement, not an IFRS income statement—so we ignore any capitalization, amortization, share charges, any of the non-cash accounting charges are excluded from here.

Speaker #1: So, this is gross operating costs on a cash basis, effectively. Now, we only increased by 3% year on year, so we're continuing to exhibit very strong cost control. Having said that, we are growing a little bit on the headcount, cautiously.

Speaker #1: We are investing in a few other areas to expand our franchises as well. In fact, the biggest cost increase year on year was the profit-related bonus, because we have an all-staff profit share scheme, and given the strong profitability, pretty much all of that increase year on year is driven by that increase in bonus.

Alex Bevis: Given the strong profitability, pretty much all of that increase year on year is driven by that increase in bonus. So GBP 62.5 on a gross opex basis for FY26. Probably looking at mid-60s, I would say, for FY27, as we just start this financial year. Next line is tax credits. On this adjusted income statement basis, we account for tax credits and tax reliefs directly in the year when the expenditure is incurred. That is a bit different from IFRS accounting in terms of both the location and the timing of those, and I do not want to get too much into IFRS accounting in this presentation today because I know that Jo might fall asleep. So we will focus here pretty much on the adjusted income statement basis, and you can see the very substantial tick up year on year.

Speaker #1: So, 62.5 on a gross OPEX basis for FY26. Probably looking at mid-60s, I would say, for FY27, as we just start this financial year.

Speaker #1: Next line is tax credits. So, on this adjusted income statement basis, we account for tax credits and tax reliefs directly in the year when the expenditure is incurred.

Speaker #1: Now, that's a bit different from IFRS accounting, in terms of both the location and the timing of those, and I don't want to get too much into IFRS accounting in this presentation today, because I know that Joe might fall asleep.

Speaker #1: So we'll focus here very much on the adjusted income statement basis. And you can see the very substantial tick-up year-on-year. I'm going to talk about this on a slide coming up, so park it for now.

Alex Bevis: I am going to talk about this on a slide coming up, so park it for now. But GBP 12.8 obviously very significant in generating that adjusted op profit number at the bottom. Within other operating income, in last year's number, that GBP 3.9 relates to selling publishing rights for a Frontier Foundry game in FY26. Towards the start of this financial year, or last financial year, in FY26, we have started to sublet the ground floor of the building. So that is all the sublet income that we have coming through. We expect, therefore, a similar number to come back into FY27 as well. So adding all that through from gross profit, deduct the gross opex, and then add back tax credits and the other operating income, we hit a record adjusted operating profit of GBP 21.4, just over 20% profit margin. So really delighted with that performance. Really strong set of numbers.

Speaker #1: But £12.8 million, obviously, is very significant in generating that adjusted operating profit number at the bottom. Within other operating income, in last year's number, that £3.9 million relates to selling publishing rights for a Foundry game.

Speaker #1: In FY26, towards the start of this financial year—our last financial year—in FY26, we have started to sublet the ground floor of the building.

Speaker #1: So that is all the sublet income that we have coming through, and we expect, therefore, a similar number to come back into FY27 as well.

Speaker #1: So, adding all that through from gross profit, we deduct the gross OPEX, and then add back tax credits and other operating income to get a record adjusted operating profit of £21.4 million, just over a 20% profit margin.

Speaker #1: So, really delighted with that performance. Really strong set of numbers. Tom, if you could flick on to the next slide. So, a bit more here on tax. I know Joe loves talking about tax, so we'll spend a few minutes on this.

Alex Bevis: Tom, if you could flick onto the next slide. So a bit more here on tax. I know Jo loves talking about tax, so we will spend a few minutes on this. We have benefited for a long time from video games schemes in the UK. People probably know Video Games Tax Relief as being the most established one there. That is transitioning to something called Video Games Expenditure Credit. The accounting for those is a bit different, and I am not going to get into that on this slide. This slide represents the effective benefit we get in the financial year against the expenditure that we incur. So you can see there that although VGTR has ticked down because of that transition, VGEC is very substantial now. Some of that relates to some prior year adjustments.

Speaker #1: So, we've benefited for a long time from video games schemes in the UK. People probably know video games tax relief as being the most established one there.

Speaker #1: That is transitioning to something called Video Games Expenditure Credits. Now, the accounting for those is a bit different, and I'm not going to get into that on this slide.

Speaker #1: This slide represents the effective benefit we get in the financial year against the expenditure that we incur. And so, you can see there that although VGR has ticked down because of that transition, VGEC is very substantial.

Speaker #1: Now, some of that relates to some prior year adjustments because we were uncertain about that transition from one scheme to the other. We were pretty prudent in the prior year, so about £2.3 million of the VGEC number actually comes from a prior year adjustment.

Alex Bevis: Because we were uncertain about that transition from one scheme to the other, we were pretty prudent in the prior year. So about GBP 2.3 million of the VGEC number actually comes from a prior year adjustment. So if you strip that out, we are probably looking like a normalized number in FY26 across all four of these schemes of something like GBP 10.5 million. That is a bit higher than we would normally expect. There are a couple of differences there. One is that we can get a full benefit for the IP costs where we could not under VGTR. That means that we can get a credit back for royalties that we have with Universal for Jurassic, for instance. In the year because of that strong success with Jurassic World Evolution 2, that really helped us quite a lot.

Speaker #1: So if you strip that out, we're probably looking at a normalized number in FY26 across all four of these schemes of something like 10.5 million.

Speaker #1: Now, that's a bit higher than we would normally expect. There are a couple of differences there. One is that we can get the full benefit for the IP costs, where we couldn't under VGTR.

Speaker #1: Now, that means we can get a credit back for royalties that we have with Universal for Jurassic, for instance. And in the year, because of that strong success with Jurassic World Evolution 3, that really helped us quite a lot.

Speaker #1: So I know that people will ask later on the questions about, "What do you expect going forward?" So I'll probably just head it off here.

Alex Bevis: I know that people will ask later on the questions about what do you expect going forward. Probably just head it off here. We are probably looking at GBP 8 to GBP 9 million of total tax credits and reliefs on an adjusted op basis in FY27. Not quite as strong as the 12.8. As I said, some of that did include a prior year adjustment. There is one other thing to note at the bottom here. In addition to that prior year adjustment, we have this one-off transitional credit of GBP 4.4 million. That relates to how the legislation was drafted by HMRC. Again, we were not sure whether we were going to get this. We claimed it and we have actually received the cash now into our bank account. That is part of the reason that the cash ticked up to just over GBP 50 million at the end of August.

Speaker #1: We're probably looking at £8 to £9 million of total tax credits and reliefs on an adjusted OP basis in FY27. So, not quite as strong as the £12.8 million, but as I said, some of that did include a prior year adjustment.

Speaker #1: There's one other thing to note at the bottom here. In addition to that prior year adjustment, we have this one-off transitional credit of £4.4 million.

Speaker #1: Now, that relates to how the legislation was drafted by HMRC. So, again, we weren't sure whether we were going to get this. We claimed it, and we've actually received the cash now into our bank account.

Speaker #1: That's part of the reason that the cash ticked up to just over £50 million at the end of August. So we've excluded that from the calculation of adjusted operating profit because it is one-off in nature.

Alex Bevis: We have excluded that from the calculation of adjusted op profit because it is one-off in nature. It has helped with the IFRS numbers, and that is part of the reason you see such a strong growth in the IFRS operating profit. Okay, I think that is enough on tax for now. Hopefully, we will get some questions on it later. On cash flow, this is a cash bridge from start to finish. It is fairly straightforward because the adjusted operating profit measure is a pretty good proxy for free cash flow. You can see that 21.4 flows straight through, a little bit of working capital difference. Sorry, Tom, the slides keep coming in and out. I do not know whether that is something you are up to then. Then we had pretty significant investment in our own shares. Share buybacks were 15.5, and then we had EBT share purchases as well.

Speaker #1: But it has helped with the IFRS numbers, and that's part of the reason you see such strong growth in the IFRS operating profit.

Speaker #1: Okay, I think that's enough on tax for now. Hopefully, we'll get some questions on it later. On cash flow—so, this is a cash bridge from start to finish.

Speaker #1: It's fairly straightforward because the adjusted operating profit measure is a pretty good proxy for free cash flow. You can see that £21.4 million flows straight through, with just a little bit of working capital difference.

Speaker #1: Sorry, Tom, the slides keep coming in and out. I don't know whether that's something you're doing there. And then we had pretty significant investment in our own shares.

Speaker #1: So, share buybacks were £15.5 million, and then we had EBT share purchases as well. So, closing balance was £44 million. And if you go to the next slide, please, Tom, we'll talk a bit more about that capital allocation strategy.

Alex Bevis: Closing balance was GBP 44 million. If you go to the next slide, please, Tom, we will talk a bit more about that capital allocation strategy. Clearly, first priority for us is investing sensibly in the business. As I said earlier, we are cautiously growing headcount. We have some other areas to invest in as well, but I am not expecting any real significant tick up in the operating cost for the business. We already have a very strong balance sheet, and with over GBP 50 million, clearly it is strengthened even more. Then the third bullet there, returning surplus capital to shareholders where appropriate. We certainly think that the buybacks benefits people in the long term. We still believe our valuation is very low given our performance, our strong balance sheet, and the prospects that we have going forward.

Speaker #1: So clearly, our first priority is investing sensibly in the business. As I said earlier, we are cautiously growing headcount. We have some other areas to invest in as well.

Speaker #1: But I'm not expecting any real significant tick-up in the operating costs for the business. We already have a very strong balance sheet, and with over £50 million, clearly, it's strengthened even more.

Speaker #1: So then the third bullet there: returning surplus capital to shareholders where appropriate. We certainly think that the buybacks benefit people in the long term.

Speaker #1: We still believe our valuation is very low given our performance, our strong balance sheet, and the prospects that we have going forward. So, we've invested so far £20.5 million since the 1st of June, including the share buybacks and the EBT purchases.

Alex Bevis: We have invested so far 20.5 since 1 June, including the share buybacks and EBT purchase. We would expect that buybacks would feature within FY27. We will be renewing the authority at the AGM in October. As I said, we really do believe we are significantly undervalued and it makes sense therefore to use that surplus cash to do those buybacks. Then the last point here, special dividend. This is, I think, the first time that Frontier has ever paid a dividend out, certainly since we have been a public listed company. It really reflects the confidence that we have, the very strong financial position and the record financial performance. We also have that kind of windfall one-off from HMRC of GBP 4.4 million, so it pretty much covers that.

Speaker #1: And we would expect that buybacks would feature within FY27. We'll be renewing the authority at the AGM in October. But as I said, we really do believe we're significantly undervalued, and it makes sense, therefore, to use that surplus cash to do those buybacks.

Speaker #1: Then the last point here, special dividends. So this is, I think, the first time that Frontier has ever paid a dividend out, certainly since we've been a publicly listed company.

Speaker #1: That really reflects the confidence that we have, the very strong financial position, and the record financial performance. We also have that kind of windfall one-off from HMRC of £4.4 million, so that pretty much covers that.

Speaker #1: So we're going to be processing this over the next few weeks, and I think the payment date is early October. So, nice to be declaring a special dividend of £5 million.

Alex Bevis: We are going to be processing this over the next few weeks. I think the payment date is early October. Nice to be declaring a special dividend of GBP 5 million. I think it is about 14 pence per share. I think that is me done. I will pass back to Jo to talk about our franchises in a bit more detail.

Speaker #1: I think it's about 14 pence per share. Okay, I think that's me done. I'll pass back to Joe to talk about our franchises in a bit more detail.

Speaker #2: Thanks, Alex. So, one of Frontier's greatest strengths today is the maturity and the quality of our franchise portfolio, which you can see here. Across our major franchises, we've generated hundreds of millions of pounds in lifetime revenue.

Jo Cooke: Thanks, Alex. One of Frontier's greatest strengths today is the maturity and the quality of our franchise portfolio, which you can see here. Across our major franchises, we generated hundreds of millions of pounds in lifetime revenue, sold millions of units, and delivered dozens of content releases over many years. Importantly, this revenue has not been generated solely at launch. It has been generated through effective nurturing, through premium content platform releases, promotions, and ongoing player engagement. We have built recurring revenue streams in a more resilient business model. This means we have a lower dependency on individual launches and better visibility of future cash generation. The scale of engagement in our games is absolutely extraordinary. In Planet Coaster 2 alone, players have laid more than 23 billion kilometers of tracks, which is enough actually to travel to the moon and back almost 30,000 times.

Speaker #2: Sold millions of units and delivered dozens of content releases over many years. Importantly, this revenue has not been generated solely at launch—it's been generated through effective nurturing.

Speaker #2: Through premium content, platform releases, promotions, and ongoing player engagement, we've built recurring revenue streams in a more resilient business model. This means we have a lower dependency on individual launches and better visibility of future cash generation.

Speaker #2: And the scale of engagement in our games is absolutely extraordinary. In Planet Coaster alone, Planet Coaster 2 alone, players have laid more than 23 billion kilometers of tracks, which is enough, actually, to travel to the moon and back almost 30,000 times.

Speaker #2: And they've also placed more than 260 million items in-game in the last six months, which shows the resilience and the demonstration of the creativity, engagement, and longevity that CMS games can deliver.

Jo Cooke: They have also placed more than 260 million items in game in the last six months, which shows the resilience and the demonstration of the creative engagement and longevity that CMS games can deliver. If you go to the next slide, please. This slide captures how we think about long-term value creation. Everything begins with creating market leading CMS titles, CMS games. From there, we grow audiences, retain players, deepen engagement through content, and continually optimize lifetime profitability. Our future portfolio combines two complementary growth areas. The first is our own IP strategy, that is the Planet brand, and we will continue to make Planet games in the future and grow that brand further. The second is our licensed IP strategy, which now includes Disney alongside Jurassic World.

Speaker #2: So if you go to the next slide, please. Driving this, the slide captures how we think about long-term value creation. So everything begins with creating market-leading CMS titles.

Speaker #2: CMS games. From there, we grow audiences, retain players, deepen engagement through content, and continually optimize lifetime profitability. Our future portfolio combines two complementary growth areas.

Speaker #2: The first is our own IP strategy. That's the Planet brand, and we'll continue to make Planet games in the future and grow that brand further.

Speaker #2: The second is our licensed IP strategy, which now includes Disney alongside Jurassic World. And beyond these confirmed games that we have, we plan to further expand—expand, rather—our own IP portfolio and our licensed IP portfolio.

Jo Cooke: Beyond these confirmed games that we have, we plan to further expansion, expand rather our own IP portfolio and our licensed IP portfolio. Each new franchise expands our ecosystem and creates additional opportunities for nurture, cross-sell, PDLC, and monetization. Over time, this broadens our revenue base, increases diversification, and reduces risk. This is how we intend to deliver sustainable long-term growth. The success of this strategy can be seen in this revenue mix. CMS games represent 89% of revenue in FY26. That is up from 77% in the previous year. Revenue from CMS titles increased 34% year on year. Jurassic World Evolution was the largest contributor, but Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster both contributed to make substantial differences to this number. What this demonstrates is the growing strength of our highest performing franchises and validates our strategic focus on CMS.

Speaker #2: Each new franchise expands our ecosystem and creates additional opportunities for nurture, cross-sell, PDLC, and monetization. Over time, this broadens our revenue base, increases diversification, and reduces risk.

Speaker #2: And this is how we intend to deliver sustainable, long-term growth. The success of this strategy can be seen in this revenue mix. So, CMS Games represent 89% of revenue in fiscal year ’26.

Speaker #2: That's up from 77% in the previous year. Revenue from CMS titles increased 34% year-on-year. Jurassic World Evolution was the largest contributor, but Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster both contributed to make substantial differences to this number.

Speaker #2: What this demonstrates is the growing strength of our highest-performing franchises and validates our strategic focus on CMS. And when we talk about nurturing, this also translates into risk reduction and value creation.

Jo Cooke: When we talk about nurturing, this also translates into risk reduction and value creation. Successful CMS franchises do not behave like traditional hit-driven games. We attract players, we retain them for years, we deepen engagement through content and continue monetizing through expansions, PDLC, platform launches, and further promotions to get new audiences in. Each additional year that a franchise remains healthy extends the return on our original development investment. The result is a more predictable revenue model with strong life cycle economics. This is one of the core reasons our CMS strategy is delivering such strong financial performance. This chart shows why we have such confidence in our strategy. The majority of value generated by our franchises comes after launch, not at launch. Significant value comes at launch, but the majority comes later.

Speaker #2: Successful CMS franchises do not behave like traditional hit-driven games. We attract players, retain them for years, deepen engagement through content, and continue monetizing through expansions.

Speaker #2: PDLC, platform launches, and further promotions to get new audiences in. Each additional year that a franchise remains healthy extends the return on our original development investment.

Speaker #2: The result is a more predictable revenue model with strong lifecycle economics. This is one of the core reasons our CMS strategy is delivering such strong financial performance.

Speaker #2: And then this chart shows why we have such confidence in our strategy. The majority of value generated by our franchises comes after launch, not at launch.

Speaker #2: Significant value comes at launch, but the majority comes later. Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, and Jurassic World Evolution have all generated substantial revenue over many years through content support and ongoing player engagement.

Jo Cooke: Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, and Jurassic World Evolution have all generated substantial revenue over many years through content support and ongoing player engagement. This significantly reduces dependencies on launch performance and extends the revenue and growth opportunities for every franchise. We believe future CMS releases can and will follow a similar long-term trajectory. This next chart shows an even better picture, how nurture compounds cash returns over time. Development costs are incurred upfront, but successful franchises continue generating attractive cash flow for many years afterwards. This creates stronger return on capital, greater financial flexibility, and a lower risk investment model. Put simply, successful nurture increases both profitability and predictability. Let's see this with a couple of our games. Planet Zoo is one of the clearest examples of our nurture strategy in action.

Speaker #2: This significantly reduces dependencies on launch performance and extends the revenue and growth opportunities for every franchise. We believe future CMS releases can, and will, follow a similar long-term trajectory.

Speaker #2: And this next chart shows an even better picture: how nurture compounds cash returns over time. Development costs are incurred upfront, but successful franchises continue generating attractive cash flow for many years afterwards.

Speaker #2: And this creates a stronger return on capital, greater financial flexibility, and a lower risk investment model. Put simply, successful nurture increases both profitability and predictability.

Speaker #2: And let's see this with a couple of our games. So, Planet Zoo is one of the clearest examples of our nurture strategy in action.

Speaker #2: More than six years after launch, the franchise continues to attract players, generate revenue, and deliver exceptional returns. And if you think about year one, we generated revenues of $40 million, and now the franchise has generated revenues of $161 million.

Jo Cooke: More than six years after launch, the franchise continues to attract players, generate revenue, and deliver exceptional returns. If you think about year one, we generated revenues of GBP 40 million, and now the franchise has generated revenues of GBP 161 million. That's very evident. Across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, we've now delivered 21 PDLC releases. The franchise has generated 404% return on investment, while PDLC now represents 45% of total franchise revenue. Our community remains engaged and we're getting new players into the franchise every day. In the past month alone, over 1 million players were playing Planet Zoo, and this performance gives us significant confidence as we prepare for the launch of Planet Zoo 2. On the next slide, Jurassic World Evolution franchise remains one of the strongest licensed franchises in the whole management sim category.

Speaker #2: That's very evident. Across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, we've now delivered 21 PDLC releases. The franchise has generated a 404% return on investment, while PDLC now represents 45% of total franchise revenue.

Speaker #2: And our community remains engaged, and we're getting new players into the franchise every day. In the past month alone, over one million players were playing Planet Zoo.

Speaker #2: And this performance gives us significant confidence as we prepare for the launch of Planet Zoo 2. On the next slide, the Jurassic World Evolution franchise remains one of the strongest licensed franchises in the whole management sim category.

Speaker #2: Across three games and 23 PDLC releases, the franchise has reached almost 20 million players globally. Importantly, each successive title benefits from the audience expertise and infrastructure built by previous releases.

Jo Cooke: Across three games, 23 PDLC releases, the franchise has reached almost 20 million players globally. Importantly, each successive title benefits from the audience expertise and infrastructure built by previous releases, and that helps reduce the risk while increasing potential future returns. Players have placed more than 1 billion buildings across the franchise, and maybe not surprisingly for Jurassic World, more than 63 million park guests have been eaten in Jurassic World Evolution 3, including over 18 million by velociraptors alone. These statistics, whilst funny, also highlight the scale and engagement of the audience that we continue to build. Next slide. Thank you. Looking ahead, we believe this is the strongest and most stable pipeline in Frontier's history. In the near term, with Planet Zoo 2 and Chaos Gate: Deathwatch, in FY28, we'll be adding a new Planet franchise, which will bring long-term growth opportunities in the future.

Speaker #2: And that helps reduce the risk while increasing potential future returns. Players have placed more than 1 billion buildings across the franchise. And, maybe not surprisingly for Jurassic World, more than 63 million park guests have been eaten in Jurassic World Evolution 3, including over 18 million by Velociraptors alone.

Speaker #2: These statistics, whilst funny, also highlight the scale and engagement of the audience that we continue to build. Next slide. Thank you. So, looking ahead, we believe this is the strongest and most stable pipeline in Frontier's history.

Speaker #2: In the near term, with Planet Zoo 2 and Chaos Gate: Death Watch, in FY28 we'll be adding a new Planet franchise, which will bring long-term growth opportunities in the future.

Speaker #2: And we have longer-term opportunities through Disney and future licensed and owned IP development. Combined with our nurture program, this gives us multiple opportunities for growth.

Jo Cooke: And we have longer-term opportunities through Disney and future licensed and owned IP development. Combined with our nurture program, this gives us multiple opportunities for growth. The strategic reset implemented in 2023 and 2024 has transformed Frontier into a focused CMS franchise business, delivering record financial performance. We have demonstrated that our games and franchises can generate meaningful revenue and cash flow for many years beyond launch through disciplined nurturing and content support. And we now have stronger profitability, stronger cash generation, and a significantly lower operating model. We have proven franchises, an expanding player ecosystem, a disciplined release cadence, and a strong balance sheet. And exciting future opportunities, including Disney. We are becoming a franchise-led CMS business where nurture, recurring revenues, and life cycle management reduce risk while demonstrating long-term growth. And I personally feel positive and very confident for the coming years ahead.

Speaker #2: The strategic reset implemented in 2023 and 2024 has transformed Frontier into a focused CMS franchise business, delivering record financial performance. We've demonstrated that our games and franchises can generate meaningful revenue and cash flow for many years beyond launch through disciplined nurturing and content support.

Speaker #2: And we now have stronger profitability, stronger cash generation, and a significantly lower operating model. We have proven franchises and an expanding player ecosystem, a disciplined release cadence, and a strong balance sheet.

Speaker #2: And exciting future opportunities, including Disney. We're becoming a franchise-led CMS business, where nurture, recurring revenues, and lifestyle management reduce risk while demonstrating long-term growth.

Speaker #2: And I personally feel positive and very confident for the coming years ahead. So with that, we're open to questions.

Jo Cooke: So with that, we are open up to questions.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Jo. If you could put your hand up if you've got a question, please. And we'll start with Andrew Renton.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Jo. If you could put your hand up if you have got a question, please, and we will start with Andrew Renton.

Speaker #3: Yeah, morning both. Thank you for a great set of results. So yeah, a few from me. Any ideas on how pre-orders are going for Planet Zoo 2 versus Planet Zoo 1?

Andrew Renton: Yeah, morning, both. Thank you for-

Jo Cooke: Hi, Andrew.

Andrew Renton: That great set of results. A few from me. Any ideas on how pre-orders are going for Planet Zoo 2 versus Planet Zoo? And then anything around revenue mix between Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch and Planet Zoo 2? Be good anything on that. And then also if you could give us an idea just on the development costs for a new franchise versus a follow-on game.

Speaker #3: And then, anything around sort of revenue mix between Death Watch and Planet Zoo 2 would be good—anything on that? And then also, if you could give us an idea, just on the development cost for a new franchise versus a follow-on game.

Speaker #1: Okay, so maybe I'll tackle those. Do we have any numbers on pre-orders for Planet Zoo 2? The answer is yes, of course we do.

Alex Bevis: Okay. Maybe I will tackle those. Do we have any numbers on pre-orders for Planet Zoo 2? The answer is yes, of course we do. I think we will just say we are feeling good about that launch. It is coming together really well. There is an event coming up this weekend which will be very important. So we are comfortable with where we are right now. Do you want to say-

Speaker #1: I think we'll just say we're feeling good about that launch. It's coming together really well. There's an event coming up this weekend, which will be very important.

Speaker #1: So we're comfortable with where we are right now.

Speaker #2: I don't think we did. Yeah, I don't think we did pre-orders of Planet Zoo. But after such a long period of time, that wouldn't be a measurement for us to compare one to the other anyway.

Jo Cooke: I do not think we did pre-orders at Planet Zoo, but after such a long period of time, that would not be a measurement for us to compare one to the other anyway. Pre-orders for Planet Zoo 2 are very positive. This weekend we are doing a very similar event to the event that we did for JW II last year, where we have got our major stakeholders of players, influencers, press, all coming together at Chester Zoo to play a couple of hours of the game. So we will see how they enjoy it. We are very happy with the game itself, so it is going to be great validation seeing them play the game.

Speaker #2: Pre-orders for Planet Zoo 2, yes, are very, very positive. And this weekend, we have we're doing a very similar event to the event that we did for JWE 3 last year, where we've got our major stakeholders of players influencers press all coming together at Chester Zoo to play a couple of hours of the game.

Speaker #2: So we'll see how they enjoy it. We're very happy with the game itself, so it's going to be great validation seeing them play the game.

Speaker #1: On the second question on revenue mix, certainly Planet. Between the two launches, certainly Planet Zoo 2 is the significant one—that's the big CMS.

Alex Bevis: On the second question, on revenue mix between the two launches, Planet Zoo 2 is the significant one. That is the big core sims, because we are very focused on core sims. We are looking for that one to do certainly more than the first game did. It is going to be multi-platform. The first game was PC only. We are looking for GBP 30 million plus, I would say would be a good number. It has potential for more, but that sort of range. I think in the analyst numbers, people are maybe sensibly being a bit cautious, maybe GBP 25 million or something. The Chaos Gate game, Deathwatch, is a smaller game. It is coming out later in the year, so that is probably more in the maybe a GBP 5 million to 10 million revenue contribution in this financial year. It is coming together really well. The game is looking good.

Speaker #1: Of course, we're very focused on CMS, so we're looking for that one to do certainly more than the first game did. It's going to be multi-platform.

Speaker #1: The first game was PC only. So we're looking for $30 million plus, I would say, would be a good number. It's got potential for more, but that sort of range.

Speaker #1: I think in the analyst numbers, people are maybe sensibly being a bit cautious—maybe $25 million or something. The Chaos Gate game, Death Watch, is a smaller game.

Speaker #1: It's coming out later in the year, so that's probably more in the maybe $5 to $10 million revenue contribution than this financial year.

Speaker #1: It's coming together really well. The game's looking good. But just naturally, the budget for that is smaller—it's a smaller audience. And then on DevGos, we've talked about this quite a lot on calls before, about the range of outcomes.

Alex Bevis: But just naturally, the budget for that is smaller, so it is a smaller audience. On dev costs, we have talked about this quite a lot on calls before about the range of outcomes. We have had quite a lot of differences over the few years with the different franchises. For Planet Zoo 2, we are probably looking at a dev budget of somewhere around GBP 17 million, so that has been a bit more, and part of that is making sure we really put a lot of investment into the animals. They are the stars of the show. We have gone again on pretty much all of the animal tech, and you will see that when the game launches and you see the behavior and the visuals for those animals.

Speaker #1: We've had quite a lot of differences over the few years with the different franchises. For Planet Zoo 2, we're probably looking at a development budget of somewhere around $17 million.

Speaker #1: So, it has been a bit more. And part of that is making sure we really put a lot of investment into the animals—the stars of the show.

Speaker #1: So we've gone again on pretty much all of the animal tech. And you'll see that when the game launches and you see the behavior and the visuals for those animals.

Speaker #1: So I think a normal CMS may be, going forward, probably around that level—maybe a bit lower—sort of the 13 to 15 million mark, I would say.

Alex Bevis: I think a normal core sims maybe going forward probably around that level, maybe a bit lower, sort of the GBP 13 million to 15 million mark, I would say. The Disney game, probably more like GBP 20 million. That is a very substantial opportunity. We want to make sure we put our backs into that, put some cost behind it and make it a really good game.

Speaker #1: The Disney game is probably more like 20 million. That's a very substantial opportunity, and we want to make sure we put our backs into that, put some costs behind it, and make it a really good game.

Speaker #3: And then, just finally, on an entirely new CMS franchise— is that significantly different to, say, a follow-on game in a previous franchise?

Andrew Renton: Just finally, just on an entirely new core sims franchise, is that significantly different to say, a follow-on game in a previous franchise?

Speaker #2: I'll tell you one. So, with a new franchise, we've obviously looked at the size of that market. We'll probably spend a little less on the first iteration of it, because we want to make sure that we can grow an audience in that space.

Jo Cooke: I'll take it if you want. With a new franchise, we obviously look at the size of that market. We probably spend a little less on the first iteration of it, because we want to make sure that we can grow an audience in that space. Then subsequent ones will no doubt have greater investment if it grows. So we're very confident in introducing new Planet franchises into our portfolio because that gives us years to come of growth.

Speaker #2: And then subsequent ones will no doubt have greater investment if it grows. So we're very confident in introducing new Planet franchises into our portfolio, because that gives us years to come of growth.

Speaker #3: That's great. Thank you.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Andrew. Katie, over to you.

Andrew Renton: That's great. Thank you.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Andrew. Katie, over to you.

Speaker #4: Thank you. Good morning.

Speaker #1: Good morning.

[Analyst]: Thank you. Good morning.

Katie Cousins: Thank you. Good morning.

Speaker #4: Can you add any guidance around the capitalization rate? Obviously, falling to 66% this year, and how should we think about that as you work your way through the pipeline?

Alex Bevis: Morning.

[Analyst]: Can you add any guidance around the capitalization rate, obviously fallen to 66% this year, and how should we think about that as you work your way through the pipeline? Then just on surplus cash, obviously it's great that you're declaring the special dividend and talk about further buybacks, but how should we think of what defines surplus cash at Frontier and how much do you need for investment? Then finally, just on the Disney game, I know it's fully funded by you guys, but should we expect marketing help from Disney? Are they going to be able to advertise on the streaming service in their parks or exhibitions and the like? Just the way we kind of got the film release help with the Jurassic games in the past. Anything around that that you could share. Thank you.

Katie Cousins: Can you add any guidance around the capitalization rate, obviously fallen to 66% this year, and how should we think about that as you work your way through the pipeline? Then just on surplus cash, obviously it's great that you're declaring the special dividend and talk about further buybacks, but how should we think of what defines surplus cash at Frontier and how much do you need for investment? Then finally, just on the Disney game, I know it's fully funded by you guys, but should we expect marketing help from Disney? Are they going to be able to advertise on the streaming service in their parks or exhibitions and the like? Just the way we kind of got the film release help with the Jurassic games in the past. Anything around that that you could share. Thank you.

Speaker #4: And then, just on surplus cash—obviously, it's great that you're declaring the special dividend and talking about further buybacks. But how should we think about what defines surplus cash at Frontier, and how much do you need for investment?

Speaker #4: And then finally, just on the Disney game, I know it's fully funded by you guys, but should we expect marketing help from Disney?

Speaker #4: Are they going to be able to advertise it on the streaming service and their parks or exhibitions, and the like? Just the way we kind of got the film release help with the Jurassic games in the past.

Speaker #4: Is there anything around that you could share? Thank you.

Speaker #2: Well, I'll start on that one and just talk about the Disney game for a moment. Disney are no strangers to having IP partners, and they have a great program for shared marketing opportunities.

Jo Cooke: Well, I'll start on that one and just talk about the Disney game for a moment. Disney are no strangers to having IP partners and they have a great program for shared marketing opportunities. They also have many different assets that you can use in order to be able to do that. So we anticipate good partnership with Disney going forward, and we'll take every opportunity we can to reach wider Disney audience.

Speaker #2: They also have many, many different assets that you can use in order to be able to do that. So we anticipate good partnership with Disney going forward.

Speaker #2: And we'll take every opportunity we can to reach a wider Disney audience.

Speaker #1: Yeah, I think just to add that, on the sort of contractual side, the deals we tend to do are always based on that game.

Alex Bevis: Yeah, I think just to add that on the contractual side, the deals we tend to do are always based on us producing a game and then publishing that game. I don't think in any of the agreements that we've had there is an obligation

Speaker #1: I don't think in any of the agreements that we've had there is an obligation for the party to, sort of, support us. But generally, we have got good support.

Jo Cooke: No

Alex Bevis: for the party to support us. But generally, we have got good support. But just so you're aware, it's not like a contractual thing, it just makes sense for them because of course they're getting a royalty, so the more they push the game, the more they're going to benefit. The first question you had was on capitalization rate, proper finance question. Thank you very much. So just a reminder for anyone on the call, we tend to capitalize game developments once they're into proper production, so past the pre-production and scoping phase, entering production. The rate was relatively low, I suppose. We've had anything between 70% and 80% in the past, only 66%. Part of that is our decision to stop capitalizing any content for Planet Coaster 2. Now we put a lot of effort into free content.

Speaker #1: But just so you're aware, it's not like a contractual thing. It just makes sense for them because, of course, they're getting a royalty. So the more they push the game, the more they're going to benefit.

Speaker #1: The first question you had was on capitalization rate—a proper finance question. Thank you very much. Just a reminder for anyone on the call, we tend to capitalize game developments once they're into proper production.

Speaker #1: So, past the pre-production and scoping phase, entering production, the rate was relatively low, I suppose. We've had anything between sort of 70 and 80% in the past—only 66%.

Speaker #1: Part of that is our decision to stop capitalizing any content for Planet Coaster 2. Now, we put a lot of effort into free content.

Speaker #1: Of course, that means that we're expensing that even where we've started to develop paid content. We're not capitalizing that, based on that initial performance.

Alex Bevis: Of course, that means we are expending that even where we have started to develop paid content, we are not capitalizing that based on that initial performance. That sort of moved us down a bit. The other thing in the year was the development for the new Planet game. Because we really, as Jo sort of alluded to earlier, we really want to make sure we invest sensibly and get that right. We have had quite a long pre-production phase, and that means we have not started capitalization. I think probably for this financial year we have just started now, we will have a similar rate, I think, in the 60% to 65% bracket. I would have thought we are continuing to support Planet Coaster 2, as you have seen, and we are really pleased with the results for that. Some good PDLC responses that we have seen there.

Speaker #1: So that's sort of moved us down a bit. The other thing in the year was the development for the new Planet game. So, because we really, as Joe sort of alluded to earlier, we really want to make sure we invest sensibly and get that right.

Speaker #1: We've had quite a long pre-production phase, and that means we haven't started capitalization. So I think, probably for this financial year, we've just started now.

Speaker #1: We'll have a similar rate, I think—in the 60% to 65% bracket, I would have thought. We're continuing to support Planet Coaster 2; as you've seen, we're really pleased with the results for that.

Speaker #1: Some good PDLC responses that we've seen there. The game for '28 is now into full production, so we'll start capitalizing that. But then, obviously, Disney, which we've just signed, is in pre-production.

Alex Bevis: The game for 2028 is now into full production, so we will start capitalizing that. The, obviously, Disney, which we have just signed, is in pre-production. So that game won't start to capitalize that yet. Hopefully, that answers your question, Katie.

Speaker #1: So that game will be won't start to capitalize that yet. Hopefully, that answers your question, Katie. And the second well, the second one you had was on surplus cash.

Jo Cooke: Yeah.

Katie Cousins: Yeah.

Alex Bevis: The second one you had was on surplus cash. I certainly think we do not really need too much more than, say, GBP 20 million. We have a bit of working capital flow around big launches. We will tend to build up big receivables, and then the game launches, and then we collect that cash in. But certainly GBP 50 million is pretty substantial for us. I would get a bit nervous if we were sort of getting back to below GBP 20 million. We are limited as to what we can do on the buybacks. There is a sort of 10% limit on that, so I think we will be looking to do buybacks again.

Speaker #1: I certainly think we don't really need too much more than, say, £20 million. We have a bit of working capital. Cash flow around big launches will tend to build up big receivables.

Speaker #1: And then the game launches, and then we collect that cash in. But certainly, $50 million is pretty substantial for us. I get a bit nervous if we were sort of getting back to below $20 million.

Speaker #1: We're limited as to what we can do on the buybacks. There's a sort of 10% limit on that, so I think we will be looking to do buybacks again.

Speaker #1: I've seen today the share price has ticked up a little bit. But when you consider that we made adjusted operating profit of over £20 million, and you look at the enterprise value, take off the cash number, the multiple is really low.

Alex Bevis: I have seen today the share price has ticked up a little bit, but when you consider that we made adjusted our profit of over GBP 20 million, and you look at the enterprise value, take off the cash number, the multiple is really low. I think it makes sense to keep going with those programs.

Speaker #1: So, I think it makes sense to keep going with those programs.

Speaker #4: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Katie. Over to Ollie.

Jo Cooke: Thank you.

Katie Cousins: Thank you.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Katie. Over to Ollie.

Speaker #3: Hi, guys. I know you briefly touched on it, but in terms of framing a new franchise, how does it differ in terms of market scoping and assessing your target market?

Ollie Wynne-James: Hi, guys. I know you briefly touched on it, but in terms of framing a new franchise, how does it differ in terms of market scoping and assessing your target market? How much have you looked at the existing Frontier player base? I know you have quite good cross-sell in terms of a player will buy two or three of your games, multiple games. How much are you targeting that existing base for that franchise, and how much are you looking to bring in new players? Because I guess anyone new you bring in, you then have a chance to cross-sell your existing games to as well.

Ollie Tipping: Hi, guys. I know you briefly touched on it, but in terms of framing a new franchise, how does it differ in terms of market scoping and assessing your target market? How much have you looked at the existing Frontier player base? I know you have quite good cross-sell in terms of a player will buy two or three of your games, multiple games. How much are you targeting that existing base for that franchise, and how much are you looking to bring in new players? Because I guess anyone new you bring in, you then have a chance to cross-sell your existing games to as well.

Speaker #3: And how much have you looked at the existing Frontier player base? I know you have quite good cross-sell, in terms of a player will buy two or three of your games—multiple games.

Speaker #3: But how much are you targeting that existing base for that franchise, and how much are you looking to bring in new players? Because I guess anyone new you bring in, you then have a chance to cross-sell your existing games to as well.

Speaker #2: Exactly. So, CMS is quite broad—content and management. People behave differently and look for different kinds of gameplay styles. What we do, though, is we start with the CMS audience as a whole.

Jo Cooke: Exactly. CMS is quite broad, content and management, so people behave differently and look for different kind of gameplay styles. What we do, though, is we start with the CMS audience as a whole. So that is everything from creative stuff right the way through to tycoon and look where the opportunities are there. Within that, we will then look at what the subject matter might be and start looking at not just our player data, but players within those interest areas and look at their affinity titles. There are a whole load of different places where we can go now to look at Steam data, to look at other data, and we do our own research. So in doing that, we get a sense of where the interest might lie within the audience that we know will buy a CMS game and where that might be.

Speaker #2: So that's everything from creative stuff right the way through to tycoon, and look where the opportunities are there. Within that, we'll then look at what the subject matter might be, and start looking at not just our player data, but players within those interest areas, and look at their affinity titles.

Speaker #2: There are a whole load of different places where we can go now to look at Steam data, to look at other data, and we do our own research.

Speaker #2: So, in doing that, we get a sense of where the interest might lie within the audience that we know will buy a CMS game, and where that might be.

Speaker #2: Is it more of a management-style game? Is it more of a creative-style game? And then we’ll think about how we layer the commonalities across all our games so that we get that crossover from our games.

Jo Cooke: Is it a more management style game? Is it a more creative style game? Then we will think about how we layer the commonalities across all our games so that we get that crossover from our games. The key is for us, we do not want to cannibalize our own audience, but we do want to bring new audiences in, and every time we introduce a new subject matter, it brings new audiences in and it gets people into our ecosystem. Our price promotions do the same. So we have Planet Zoo players now who have probably bought at 90%, 95% discount. They will be future players for Planet Zoo 2. They will be future players for our new franchises that we launch. So we look across that whole area, and we kind of create a continuum of interest from highly engaged players through to they may be possibly interested in the subject matter.

Speaker #2: The key for us is that we don't want to cannibalize our own audience, but we do want to bring new audiences in. Every time we introduce a new subject matter, it brings new audiences in and gets people into our ecosystem.

Speaker #2: Our price promotions do the same. So we've got Planet Zoo players now who've probably bought at 90%, 95% discount. They'll be future players for Planet Zoo 2.

Speaker #2: There will be future players for our new franchisees that we launch. So we look across that whole area, and we kind of create a continuum of interest from highly engaged players through to maybe those possibly interested in the subject matter.

Speaker #2: We'll target them at different stages during the life cycle of that game.

Jo Cooke: We will target them at different stages during the life cycle of that game.

Speaker #3: Brilliant. Thank you.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Ollie. Sean's up next.

Ollie Wynne-James: Brilliant. Thank you.

Ollie Tipping: Brilliant. Thank you.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Ollie. Sean is up next.

Speaker #2: Hi, Sean.

Speaker #3: Hi, morning. Alex, morning. Joe, sorry—I don't think my camera's quite working, a bit of an issue with that. Thank you for taking questions.

Jo Cooke: Hi, Sean.

Sean Marsh: Hi. Morning, Alex. Morning, Jo. Sorry, I don't think my camera's quite working. A bit of an issue with that. Thank you for taking questions. I've got just two, if it's all right.

[Analyst]: Hi. Morning, Alex. Morning, Jo. Sorry, I don't think my camera's quite working. A bit of an issue with that. Thank you for taking questions. I've got just two, if it's all right. Last year you announced Planet Zoo 2 around November time. Is that a reasonable timeframe to expect announcement for the FY28 game? Secondly, Alex, I know you wanted some questions on tax, so here's one for you.

Speaker #3: I've got just two, if that's all right. Are you still—so I think last year you announced Planet Zoo 2 around November time. Is that a reasonable timeframe to expect an announcement for the FY28 game?

Sean Marsh: Last year you announced Planet Zoo 2 around November time. Is that a reasonable timeframe to expect announcement for the FY28 game? Secondly, Alex, I know you wanted some questions on tax, so here's one for you.

Speaker #3: And then secondly, Alex, I know you wanted some questions on tax. So here's one for you. Gotcha. Actually, first part is tax, second part may be a bit broader.

Alex Bevis: Good.

Sean Marsh: Actually, first part tax, second part maybe broader. I know you've been able to offset the Jurassic licensing costs or that you can get a tax credit towards that.

[Analyst]: Actually, first part tax, second part maybe broader. I know you've been able to offset the Jurassic licensing costs or that you can get a tax credit towards that.

Speaker #3: I know you've been able to offset the drastic licensing costs, or that you can get a tax credit towards that. Do you expect that to be the same for the Disney IP licensing cost?

Speaker #3: And then relating to that, I know you won't disclose the exact commercials on the partnership with Disney, but would it be fair to assume that the gross margin on the Disney game should probably be at a similar sort of level to Jurassic?

Alex Bevis: Sure.

Sean Marsh: Do you expect that to be the same for the Disney IP licensing cost? Then relating to that, I know you won't disclose exact commercials on the partnership with Disney, but would it be fair to assume that the gross margin on the Disney game should probably be a similar sort of level to Jurassic, or could there be any differences from there?

[Analyst]: Do you expect that to be the same for the Disney IP licensing cost? Then relating to that, I know you won't disclose exact commercials on the partnership with Disney, but would it be fair to assume that the gross margin on the Disney game should probably be a similar sort of level to Jurassic, or could there be any differences from there?

Speaker #3: Or could there be any differences from there?

Speaker #2: I'll take the first question, then. So, announcing in November—probably not, because we want to give Planet Zoo its space. People will be very excited about the next game.

Jo Cooke: I'll take the first question. So announcing in November, probably not, because we want to give Planet Zoo its space, because people will be very excited about the next game. So we'll wait probably until around about January, I would think. Who knows? We might change our mind on that, but I think it's more likely to be January than November.

Speaker #2: So we’ll wait probably until around about January, I would think. Who knows? We might change our mind on that, but I think it’s more likely to be January than November.

Speaker #1: I think one thing to add there is, for those people that have followed us for a few years, we tended to always have a 'tadah' moment.

Alex Bevis: I think that one thing to add there is, for those people that have followed us for a few years, we tended to always have a ta-da moment. We'd keep very quiet and then start the launch campaign. Something that Jo encouraged us to do, and I think has worked really well, is to call things out much earlier, because then we get the player feedback. Actually worked very well for Jurassic. We think it's going to work well for Zoo as well. So gathering up that feedback from players, because we think we know what players want, but actually them telling us is really very valuable.

Speaker #1: We'd keep very quiet and then start the launch campaign. And something that Joe encouraged us to do, and I think those worked really well, is to call things out much earlier.

Speaker #1: Because then we get the player feedback, as you work very well for Jurassic, we think it's going to work well for Zoo as well.

Speaker #1: So, gathering up that feedback from players—because we think we know what players want, but actually them telling us is really very valuable—and it helps the dev teams if we can do that early.

Speaker #2: I will say, though, with that game—the unannounced Planet game—we have already started testing it with players. So we've been getting feedback and introducing it behind closed doors.

Jo Cooke: Yeah.

Alex Bevis: It helps the dev teams if we can do that early.

Jo Cooke: Yeah.

Alex Bevis: It helps the dev teams if we can do that early.

Jo Cooke: I will say, though, with that game, the unannounced Planet game, we have already started testing it with players, so we have been getting feedback and introducing it behind closed doors. So that will help with that process.

Speaker #2: So that will help with that process.

Speaker #1: The second question was about tax and licensing costs. And yes, we do expect that the IP royalties we can claim at the moment with Universal would extend to Disney as well.

Alex Bevis: Second question was about tax and licensing costs. Yes, we do expect that the IP royalties that we can claim at the moment with Universal, they would extend to Disney as well. So there is some real benefit from the transition from VGTR to Video Games Expenditure Credit. You asked about the commercial terms. Most of the agreements that we have done with license partners tend to be similar in the sort of 10% to 20% of net revenue in terms of royalties. So midpoint of around 15%. So I would say that that is a pretty good expectation going forward. It is not on the gross revenue, that sort of 10% to 20% rate is applied after deducting the Steam commission and Microsoft and PlayStation commissions.

Speaker #1: So, there's some real benefit from the transition from VTTR to video game expenditure credits. And you asked about the commercial terms—yeah, most of the agreements that we've done with licensed partners have tended to be similar, in the sort of 10 to 20 percent of net revenue, in terms of royalties.

Speaker #1: So, midpoint of around 15 percent. So, I'd say that that's a pretty good expectation going forward. So it's not on the gross revenue. It's that sort of 10 to 20 percent rate, applied after deducting Steam commission and Microsoft and PlayStation commissions.

Speaker #3: Thank you. Thank you both very much.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Sean. Will.

Sean Marsh: Great. Thank you both very much.

[Analyst]: Great. Thank you both very much.

Alex Bevis: Thanks, Sean. Will?

Speaker #4: Yeah, morning. Thanks very much for the presentation. Just one on platforms—sort of relationships to platforms—particularly ahead of the Planet Zoo 2 release.

Will Parrish: Yeah, morning. Thanks very much.

Will Larwood: Yeah, morning. Thanks very much.

Jo Cooke: Morning, Will.

Will Parrish: For the presentation. One just on platforms, sort of relationships with platforms, particularly ahead of the Planet Zoo 2 release. When can we expect a deal potentially, and the feedback you have been getting there? Secondly, just in terms of, we have spoken a lot about CMS games, but obviously you have Elite Dangerous within the portfolio. How does that fit in in terms of sort of the medium-term plans? Will you continue to invest in that game? Then finally, I think you called out on slide 4 just about investing more into technology and your engine in Cobra. Wondering if you could just expand that a little bit more.

Will Larwood: For the presentation. One just on platforms, sort of relationships with platforms, particularly ahead of the Planet Zoo 2 release. When can we expect a deal potentially, and the feedback you have been getting there? Secondly, just in terms of, we have spoken a lot about CMS games, but obviously you have Elite Dangerous within the portfolio. How does that fit in in terms of sort of the medium-term plans? Will you continue to invest in that game? Then finally, I think you called out on slide 4 just about investing more into technology and your engine in Cobra. Wondering if you could just expand that a little bit more.

Speaker #4: When can we expect a deal, potentially, and what feedback have you been getting there? Secondly, we've spoken a lot about CMS games, but obviously you also have Elite Dangerous within the portfolio.

Speaker #4: How does that fit in terms of the medium-term plans? Will you continue to invest in that game? And then finally, I think you called out on slide 4 about investing more into technology and your engine, Cobra.

Speaker #4: I'm wondering if you could just expand on that a little bit more, particularly around how you're integrating things like AI into the business.

Jo Cooke: Yeah

Will Parrish: And then particularly around how you are integrating things like AI into the business.

Will Larwood: And then particularly around how you are integrating things like AI into the business.

Speaker #2: Yeah. Okay. Why don't I start with Cobra, then, as I'm thinking about it while you say it? So, our Cobra platform—it's been specifically designed to support our core strengths.

Jo Cooke: Yeah. Okay. Why don't I start with Cobra then, as I'm thinking about it, while you said. Our Cobra platform, it's been specifically designed to support our core sims. To help us create deep simulation games, it's very effective at handling large amounts of interacting systems, which is how we do our piece-by-piece, and it also works incredibly well for Elite Dangerous for the same reason when you're talking about billions of cell systems. In terms of continuing investing in it, what I think we're going to be looking at now is finessing some of the tools, making sure that we have a strong tool chain running all the way through, improving the way that we can get people using it more quickly, because we want our graduates to all become Cobra specialists very quickly, and optimizing its core performance overall.

Speaker #2: So, to help us create deep simulation games, it's very effective at handling large amounts of interacting systems—which is how we do our piece-by-piece—and it also works incredibly well for Elite Dangerous for the same reason, when you're talking about billions of star systems.

Speaker #2: In terms of continuing to invest in it, what I think we're going to be looking at now is finessing some of the tools, making sure that we have a strong toolchain running all the way through, and improving the way we can get people using it more quickly, because we want our graduates to all become Cobra specialists very quickly.

Speaker #2: And optimizing its core performance overall—that helps us across using it in different games. So what we do in one game, we can then move to the other.

Jo Cooke: That helps us using it across different games. What we do in one game, then we can move to the other, and so it's always iterating all the way through. Which is actually an advantage of using our own engine, because if you're using a non-proprietary engine, you're not in the position necessarily to iterate each time with every game. You're waiting for them to iterate the engine. It's very helpful for us to do that. In terms of AI for us is, we're thinking about it not from a creative point of view, and I think we had these conversations before on these calls. It's around efficiencies and what we can do to use it to drive efficiencies. We are looking at it, and we are thinking about how that works.

Speaker #2: And so it's always iterating all the way through, which is actually an advantage of using our own engine, because if you're using a non-proprietary engine, you're not in the position necessarily to iterate each time with every game.

Speaker #2: You're waiting for them to iterate the engine, so it's very helpful for us to do that. In terms of AI, AI for us is—we're thinking about it not from a creative point of view, and I think we've had these conversations before on these calls.

Speaker #2: It's around efficiencies and what we can drive—what we can do to use it to drive efficiencies. So, we are looking at it, and we are thinking about how that works.

Speaker #2: AI is really good in operational efficiencies, and that's the area that I think we'll be seeing what we can do to integrate it into our overall corporate systems.

Jo Cooke: AI is really good in operational efficiencies, and that's the area that I think we'll be seeing what we can do to integrate it into our overall corporate systems. As for the engine, that's one for us to discuss at a later date. We'll probably, if anybody's coming to our Capital Markets Day later at the beginning of next year, we'll talk about Cobra a lot more in more detail and get some of the team along to explain in much more fluency than I do on our engine. Just while I'm talking, I'll just mention Elite. Elite continues to grow its revenues for us. Yes, it sits outside of our CMS strategy, but it is a very special part of our business. I think the brand equity of Elite is baked into Frontier's history.

Speaker #2: As for the engine, that's one for us to discuss at a later date. And we'll probably, if anybody's coming to our Capital Markets Day later at the beginning of next year, we'll talk about Cobra a lot more in more detail and get some of the team along to explain in much more fluency than I do on our engine.

Speaker #2: I'll just, while I'm talking, mention Elite. Elite continues to grow its revenues for us. So it sits—yes, it sits—outside of our CMS.

Speaker #2: Strategy, but it is a very special part of our business. And I think the brand equity of Elite is baked into Frontier's history. As long as Elite continues to be something we're able to monetize and make sure that we can continue to support it, we will.

Jo Cooke: As long as Elite continues to, we're able to monetize it and make sure that we can continue to support it, we will. We're looking at all sorts of things that we can do with Elite that will continue to grow the franchise.

Speaker #2: And we're looking at all sorts of things that we can do with Elite that will continue to grow the franchise.

Speaker #1: I think the first part of the question was around platforms as well as relationships. I think it's fair to say that, Joe, you had an extremely positive Gamescom.

Alex Bevis: I think the first bit of the question was around platforms as well and relationships.

Jo Cooke: Yeah.

Alex Bevis: I think it is fair to say that Jo had an extremely positive Gamescom. The platforms are very excited about

Speaker #1: The platforms are very excited about the roadmap, so we've got great potential with the platforms there.

Jo Cooke: Yeah

Alex Bevis: the roadmap. We have, I think, great potential with the platforms there.

Speaker #2: Yeah, and then that was it.

Jo Cooke: Yeah. That was it.

Speaker #1: Okay. Let's see. Anyone else got a burning question about tax credits? No? I mean, there are some great tax slides at the back of the deck if anyone wants to take a look at those.

Alex Bevis: Great. Thanks.

Will Larwood: Great. Thanks.

Jo Cooke: That was the last question.

Alex Bevis: Okay, let's see. Anyone else got a burning question about tax credits? No. There are some great tax slides at the back of the deck if anyone wants to take a look at those. No. Still no questions. Well, thank you, everyone, for making the time. Great to have you on board, on the call. If anyone has follow-ups, feel free to reach out. We've got some time during the schedule. So thank you very much.

Speaker #1: No, no, I'm still on the questions. Okay, well, thank you everyone for making the time. Great to have you on board on the call. If anyone has follow-ups, feel free to reach out.

Speaker #1: We've got some time in the schedule, so thank you very much.

Speaker #2: Thank you, everybody.

Jo Cooke: Thank you, everybody.

Ollie Wynne-James: Thanks, guys. Bye.

Ollie Tipping: Thanks, guys. Bye.

[Analyst 1]: Thanks a lot.

[Analyst]: Thanks a lot.

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Q4 2026 Frontier Developments PLC Earnings Call

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