Bastei Lübbe AG - game publisher Daedalic Entertainment secures broad financing to implement growth plans

Bastei Lübbe AG - game publisher Daedalic Entertainment
secures broad financing to implement growth plans

Cologne/Hamburg, June 7, 2016. Daedalic Entertainment GmbH, an investment made by Bastei Lübbe AG, which is listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), has secured new long-term financing. The award-winning game publisher will receive extensive credit lines from Commerzbank in the double-digit million euro range. The associated contracts were signed in Hamburg. This means that Daedalic now has the financial resources it needs for its major growth plans: "We plan to massively expand our business in the years to come. Now, we have also secured the liquidity we need at a very early stage," explained Carsten Fichtelmann, CEO and founder of Daedalic Entertainment GmbH. He also added that the company's expansion had already begun: "Initial growth steps have already been taken. We are anticipating a huge jump in revenue already in 2017. We are now initiating the following steps of our growth programme and will implement multiple licence-games for major Hollywood IPs."

For Bastei Lübbe AG, Daedalic Entertainment, which is based in Hamburg, is one of the key pillars of the implementation of its international "multi-channel strategy." Thomas Schierack, CEO of Bastei Lübbe AG, comments: "Our aspiration is 'to each their own world." Daedalic's games are precisely what has allowed us to reach a target audience that, to a great extent, hadn't noticed us yet. This is going to change now."

The game developer Daedalic Entertainment GmbH is considered as one of the best game developers and publishers in Germany. Daedalic has been part of the Bastei Lübbe AG consolidated group since the investment was initiated in 2014 (with a brief interruption). In the 2014 financial year, Daedalic generated revenue of around EUR 7.2 million and EBITDA of EUR 1.7 million. For the financial year that has just ended (31 March), the Hamburg-based game developer has planned a jump in revenue to approximately EUR 10.5 million and EBITDA-based growth to EUR 1.9 million at the same time.

In the coming year, games revenue is expected to grow again in the three-digit percentage range. "At the moment, we can see synergies from the content of our traditional publishing house and Daedalic's extensive games expertise," said Schierack. The video game publisher is currently developing an entire range of new content with Bastei Lübbe. "This will shortly lead to a gigantic wave of releases with books from this collaboration," said Fichtelmann. As a lighthouse project, Daedalic is implementing a game based on the global bestseller "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. The game will be launched on the market at the end of 2017.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:
Bastei Lübbe AG is an international media group based in Cologne. Its business operations focus on developing and licensing content distributed worldwide physically and digitally. The company's core business includes the traditional publishing business and the periodical puzzle magazines and novel booklets in the "Book" segment. With its twelve publishers and imprints, the group of companies currently offers approximately 3,600 titles in fiction, non-fiction and books for children and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction, the company has been the market leader in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is driving innovation in the field of digital media. As well as the production of thousands of audio and e-books, the "Digital" segment also includes holdings in the self-publishing platform "BookRix" and the renowned games publisher "Daedalic Entertainment". Bastei Lübbe AG's value chain is completed by the investment in the online shop "beam-ebooks.de" and the new and internationally unique streaming platform "oolipo".
With currently 334 employees and an annual turnover of roughly EUR 110.2 million (financial year 2014/2015), Bastei Lübbe AG is the largest medium-sized family company in the German publishing industry. Since 2013, the company's shares have been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0). Further information is available at www.luebbe.de.

Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Director / Vice President
Public Relations
Tel.: +49 (0) 221 / 82 00 28 50
E-mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de