Angry Birds maker posts loss despite jump in sales

HELSINKI, Finland: Finland’s Rovio Entertainment, creator of the popular smartphone game Angry Birds, on Thursday posted a loss for the third quarter despite rising sales, as it increased its investments with a view to boost its winnings in future.

Sales reached 70.7 million euros (nearly $84 million) in the third quarter compared to 50 million the previous year, but year-on-year the company lost 800,000 euros.

Rovio posted a profit of 3.9 million euros in the third quarter of 2016.

The company said this quarter’s negative result was expected as it invested 22 million euros in top performing games, hoping this would boost its profits in future.

“In line with our growth strategy, we significantly increased our investments in user acquisition, which predictably led to a decline in profitability,” Rovio chief executive Kati Levoranta said in a statement.

“We expect the payback time for these investments to be 8 to 10 months,” Levoranta said, adding the launch of the new Angry Birds Match game could become one of the company’s “best performing”.

The group entered the Helsinki Stock Exchange at the end of September and was valued at 950 million euros.

On Thursday morning, the company’s share price was down by 19 percent.

Rovio has accelerated its diversification in recent years.

The release of the “Angry Birds” movie (2016), produced by Sony Entertainment, was a huge success that grossed $350 million worldwide, and is expected to help bolster Rovio profits in 2017 and 2018.

The company 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, while boasting an average of 80 million active players per month and 11 million per day.