‘We know this will raise questions’: Ubisoft postpones earnings call and halts trading, with little explanation
Ubisoft’s decision could suggest a significant announcement is on the way
Ubisoft has halted trading and postponed its earnings results, which could potentially indicate that a significant announcement is on the way.
The Assassin’s Creed publisher was due to publish its second-quarter results on Thursday, but instead, just 15 minutes earlier, issued a statement announcing their postponement and alerting the market that trading in its shares will be halted.
It’s possible the move is related to an announcement or acquisition, but it could also be due to some kind of accounting issue, said Niko Partners analyst, Daniel Ahmad.
In an internal e-mail sent to staff and verified by VGC, Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet did not provide an explanation for the halt in trading beyond avoiding “unnecessary speculation and market volatility” during the delay.
“Hello everyone, I wanted to let you know that we’re taking extra time to finalize the closing of the semester, and as a result, we will publish our first-half earnings results in the coming days instead of tonight,” he wrote.
“Due to legal regulations, we can’t share more information with you at this time. To limit unnecessary speculation and market volatility during this short delay, we have asked Euronext to suspend the trading of our stock until the results are announced.
“We know this is likely to raise questions and drive media coverage. I encourage you to listen to the conference call – which will be available via the Investor section of our site — just after the results are released so that you have a more detailed view of our earnings.”
The news is the latest in an eventful period for Ubisoft, which last month opened a new subsidiary part-owned by Tencent, Vantage Studios, which will now oversee its biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed.
Tencent holds a 25% stake in the new subsidiary and will act in an advisory role, with final creative and business decisions resting with co-CEOs Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot.
Ubisoft has told staff that it’s shifting towards a less centralised operating model, in an attempt to give create teams more ownership over the brands they’ve been working on. The new structure is based on the idea of ‘Creative Houses’, where teams will have greater control over their franchises and will be able to respond faster to player expectations.
