Ubisoft 2003 Annual Report Download - page 5

› 2004/05 : reinforcing
our leadership position
For the upcoming fiscal year, we have set four priority
objectives and we aim to:
• Improve financial results by optimizing our
organization and price structures
Our 2004/05 catalog, which is mainly composed of series
of established brands, gives us very good visibility on our
ability to reach this goal. We anticipate a sales growth in
excess of 10% at constant exchange rates. Our operating
profit is expected to range between ¤40 to ¤45 million
according to French standards and ¤38 to ¤43 million
on pro forma accounting standards. We anticipate a net
income excluding extraordinary items (before amortiza-
tion of goodwill and business assets) of ¤18 to ¤22 million
according to French standards and ¤17 to ¤21 million on
pro forma accounting standards. This should allow us to
generate a net free cash flow of ¤15 to ¤25 million.
• Increase internal development capacity
by 25%
We plan to strengthen our studios by hiring 400 new
high-potential talents particularly in China and Canada.
This increase will allow us to continue building a popular
portfolio of Ubisoft brands while successfully handling the
next generation of consoles.
• Reinforce our consumer-centric strategy
We have already made tremendous strides in this field.
We plan to do even more this year. We will develop
better marketing tools and track their results more
closely. We will increase the number of focus groups
and studies conducted to maximize the potential of each
product.
• Pursue our growth strategy for blockbuster
brands by capitalizing on existing brands and
creating two new brands
On the one hand, we will consolidate already-existing
brands with the launch of sequels, including Prince of
Persia®Warrior Within, Splinter Cell®Chaos Theory,
Ghost Recon®2and Myst®IV Revelation. On the other
hand, we will continue to launch totally new brands aimed
at a wide audience. Announced at E3 2004, Far Cry
Instincts™ on consoles and Brothers in Arms™ are both
new Ubisoft titles with enormous potential. Moreover, a
third new brand allowing us to enter a new segment will
be announced during the year.
Meeting each of these objectives will allow us to reach our
overall target: to seize the leading European publisher
position in Europe and the fifth largest independent
publisher position in North America within the next
three years.
› More for the player
Before turning the page on the past fiscal year, I would like
to thank our players all over the world. It is by listening to
them and accepting their advice that we can offer them high
quality games.
We ultimately seek to bring more to the player - more
challenges, more innovation, more surprises and more
emotions. This will become increasingly possible thanks to
the next generation of consoles. Their new features will
allow us to develop games with an ever richer content.
Let me also thank our shareholders, business associates and
financial partners for trusting and working closely with us,
as well as the people at Ubisoft for their talent, creativity
and energy. Thanks to them, the European and worldwide
ambition of the Group becomes reality.
Yves Guillemot
President & CEO
ANNUAL REPORT 2004 5