Rovio’s head of games, Wilhelm Taht, also resigned on Friday, leaving chief executive Kati Levoranta in charge.

The Finnish games company has warned that its brand licensing revenues could decline 40% this year.

It has blamed tough competition and higher marketing costs for the poor outlook.

Rovio’s London studio was opened in 2017 and the company went public in September with a valuation of £786m.

But on 22 February, the Finnish games maker issued a profit warning that caused its shares to drop by 50%.

Announcing the closure of its London studio, Rovio said it wanted to concentrate on its studios in Finland and Sweden.

The company had employed seven games developers in London.

Rovio saw rapid growth after it launched Angry Birds in 2009, but it made a significant loss in 2015 and cut a third of its staff.

In 2016, its Angry Birds movie earned $350 million (£254m) in cinemas and helped revive sales of the game.

A sequel is expected in 2019.

–

Source: BBC

The post Angry Birds maker Rovio closes London studio appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The preliminary price range of 10.25-11.50 euros per share would give Rovio a market value of between 802 million euros and 896 million euros ($955.34 million – $1.07 billion).

Rovio’s main owner, Trema International, which is owned by Kaj Hed, the uncle of company co-founder Niklas Hed, is expected to keep a 36.6 percent stake after the listing.

Trema currently owns 69 percent of Rovio’s shares.

Rovio said it expects to start trading on Helsinki bourse’s pre-list on September 29 and on the main list on October 3.

–

Source: Reuters

The post Angry Birds maker Rovio sets price range for $1 billion IPO appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Its majority owner, the Dutch holding Trema International, and other shareholders will market a portion of their shares in an initial public offering (IPO), it said.

In addition, Rovio is planning to sell 30 million euros (around $35 million) worth of new shares to private and institutional investors, it said in a statement, without giving more details.

After an overall fall in sales and the slashing of almost one in six of its workforce in 2014, the company accelerated its diversification.

The “Angry Birds” movie (2016), produced by Sony Entertainment, was a huge success as it grossed $350 million worldwide and helped bolster Rovio profits in 2017 and 2018.

Rovio Entertainment’s revenue grew by 94 percent in the first half of 2017, compared to the same period of 2016, to 152.6 million euros, for a net profit of 13.3 million euros, thanks to a strong performance in the second quarter.

“Our results for the second quarter of 2017 show that Rovio continues its strong, profitable growth,” its CEO Kati Levoranta said in a statement.

“Through our games-first strategy, we have strengthened our games portfolio and improved the key performance indicators,” she added.

Rovio also runs “Angry Birds” theme parks in several countries, including Finland, China and Spain.

It oversees the publication of children’s books in a dozen languages on the famous birds while boasting an average of 80 million active players per month and 11 million per day.

–

Source: AFP

The post ‘Angry Birds’ owners to go public after movie success appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.