Everplay Group Reports Strong H1 2025 Results with Improved Margins and Positive Outlook

Everplay’s H1 2025: leaner, sharper, and guiding up on EBITDA

Everplay Group plc, formerly Team17, has posted a tidy set of half-year results. Revenue dipped on phasing, but margins stepped up smartly, cash stayed strong, and the Board now expects full year adjusted EBITDA to be slightly ahead of current market expectations. For a games group with a traditionally second half weighted release slate, that is a confident signal.

Headline numbers investors should know

There is also an interim dividend of 1.0p per share, payable on 10 October 2025 to shareholders on the register on 12 September. The shares go ex-dividend on 11 September.

What drove the result: lower sales, higher quality

Revenue fell 10% to £72.4 million, largely due to timing of licence revenues and new title launches at astragon, a step down in physical distribution, and a very strong prior year back catalogue. Despite that, gross margin jumped to 46.5% and adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 26.5%.

• No title impairments this half helped margins versus H1 2024, which had £4.6 million of impairments.
• Mix was favourable, with stronger performance from higher margin titles and disciplined costs.
• Net finance income rose to £1.1 million on better cash yields, lifting statutory profit before tax by 16% to £14.3 million.

Translation: Everplay sold slightly less, but sold better and spent smarter. That is why profits and EPS moved up.

Divisional colour: where the growth and the drag came from

Team17 – a robust engine with new IP momentum

Revenue slipped 4% to £49.3 million. The back catalogue held up well against a tough comparator, while new releases landed strongly. Highlights included:

• Four launches – Sworn, Jumping Jazz Cats, Nice Day for Fishing and Date Everything – all with excellent review scores.
• Hell Let Loose hit record concurrent users of 144,629 across platforms, up 223% from the 2024 peak, after arriving on Epic Games Store.
• Pipeline for H2 includes Ritual of Raven, Early Access launches for Goblin Clean Up and Rogue Point, the full release of Sworn, and the first dedicated products for Switch 2.
• Next big franchise beat announced for 2026 – Hell Let Loose Vietnam – with lifetime franchise revenues already over $100 million.

astragon – quiet H1, loaded H2

Revenue dropped 35% to £12.0 million due to fewer releases, prior period licence timing, and lower margin physical sales. Yet player numbers still rose by 5 million. H2 is the swing factor:

• Major first-party launches planned – Firefighting Simulator: Ignite and brand new IP Seafarer: The Ship Sim.
• Police Simulator: Patrol Officers enjoyed Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus support, with strong franchise endurance nearly four years post launch.
• First-party IP made up nearly 90% of astragon revenue in the half, which should help margins over time.

StoryToys – steady subscription growth and a big H2 hit

Revenue rose 2% to £11.1 million with 335 app updates and continued subscriber growth to over 330,000. Lifetime users reached 266 million. H2 has started hot:

• LEGO Bluey launched in August with over 800k pre-orders, reaching number one iPad app overall in six countries on day one and number one kids iPad app in 117 countries.
• An edition of LEGO DUPLO World will launch on Netflix Games.

Strategy check-in: first-party IP and back catalogue rights

Everplay is pushing towards more first-party IP and adding lower risk, repeatable revenue streams by buying publishing rights. In H1 it completed three acquisitions of IP and back catalogue rights for less than £8 million. Year to date aggregate consideration is £11 million, including:

• Hammerwatch IP acquired for up to £10 million – £6 million paid upfront and up to £4 million contingent on performance – to join Team17’s first-party stable.
• Exclusive back catalogue publishing rights for Settlement Survival and Operation Tango.
• Publishing rights for six further titles acquired after the period end.

Why it matters: rights deals can be low risk, pay back quickly, and smooth earnings between big releases. They also play to Everplay’s lifecycle management strengths across Worms, Hell Let Loose, Overcooked and more.

Cash, investment, and discipline

Cash and cash equivalents were £59.5 million at period end after £7.5 million of acquisition spend and £14.3 million of capitalised development costs. Operating cash conversion was a healthy 94% and administrative expenses fell 2% to £20.4 million. Royalties sat broadly flat at 30.5% of sales.

Development spend stepped up at Team17 and StoryToys, consistent with the pipeline. Importantly, no impairments were taken in H1 2025, which supports the quality of the greenlight process the Chair called out.

Outlook: guidance nudged up and H2 loaded with launches

The Board expects FY 2025 adjusted EBITDA to be slightly ahead of current market expectations. Company-compiled consensus sits at £173.6 million of revenue and £46.9 million of adjusted EBITDA. Delivery hinges on a heavy H2 slate, with around 10 new games across 2025, including Date Everything!, LEGO Bluey, Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, the full release of Sworn, and first dedicated titles for Switch 2.

The market backdrop is helpful too. Newzoo forecasts 3.4% industry growth in 2025 to $188.8 billion. Steam users and spending are up, and Switch 2 is the fastest-selling gaming hardware ever, opening fresh distribution opportunities.

My take: reasons to be cheerful, and what to watch

Positives

• Margins up sharply with 46.5% gross and 26.5% adjusted EBITDA, despite lower revenue.
• Cash-rich balance sheet of £59.5 million gives ample firepower for rights deals and development.
• H2 pipeline looks well diversified across premium games, simulations, and kids apps.
• Back catalogue strategy is working, and the Hammerwatch IP should extend first-party depth.
• Dividend reinstated at 1.0p underlines confidence.

Watch-outs

• H2 weighting increases execution risk. A slip in one or two titles could dent the full year outturn.
• The release calendar on Steam remains intensely competitive, with ~9,800 games launched in the half.
• First-party revenue mix was 35% in H1, down from 42% last year, partially due to phasing at astragon. That needs to trend back up to support long-term margins.
• CEO search is ongoing, with a likely 2026 start. Leadership clarity will be welcome once announced.

Bottom line

This is a quality-over-quantity half. Everplay traded through lower sales by lifting margins, kept cash high, added monetisable rights, and set up a busy second half. With the Board guiding adjusted EBITDA slightly ahead of expectations and multiple launches in flight, the onus now is on delivery. For investors, watch the cadence of H2 releases, the trajectory of first-party mix, and how well the new rights deals convert into steady cash flows.

Quick jargon buster

• Adjusted EBITDA – operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, adjusted to remove acquisition-related items and certain non-cash charges.
• Back catalogue – older titles that continue to generate revenue after initial launch.
• CCU – concurrent users, the number of players online at the same time.
• DLC – downloadable content, add-ons that extend a game post launch.