ELECTRONIC ARTS REPORTS FISCAL THIRD QUARTER RESULTS
Long-Term Exclusives with NFL and ESPN; Record Cash Flows for Last 12 months
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - Jan. 25, 2005 - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS - News) today announced financial results for the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2004.
Net revenue was $1.428 billion, down 3.2 percent as compared with $1.475 billion for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2003. Sales were driven by Need for SpeedTM Underground 2, FIFA 2005, The Lord of the RingsTM, The Third AgeTM, NBA LIVE 2005, The UrbzTM: Sims in the CityTM, Golden Eye: Rogue AgentTM and The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earthTM -- each reaching platinum status in the quarter. Madden NFL 2005, The SimsTM 2 and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 2005 had continued strong sales each selling over one million copies in the quarter.
EA entered into long-term agreements with both the National Football League and ESPN. In addition, the Company agreed to purchase shares representing approximately 19.9 percent of Ubisoft Entertainment, a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment.
Net income was $375 million, a 4.4 percent decrease year-over-year. Diluted earnings per share were $1.18 as compared to $1.26 a year ago.
Non-GAAP net income, excluding certain items, was $391 million, roughly flat year-over-year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.23 as compared to $1.26. (Please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures and reconciliation information included in this release.)
Trailing twelve month operating cash flow was a record $722 million as compared to $538 million for the same period a year ago -- an increase of $184 million.
"This quarter, EA further strengthened its long term leadership position," said Larry Probst, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our exclusive agreements with the NFL, NFLPA and ESPN, along with our strategic investment in Ubisoft will help provide the framework for continued growth in the future."
"We expect calendar 2005 to be a defining year," said Warren Jenson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. "While the year ahead will certainly be a year of investment for EA, we expect to see growth through new exciting platforms, a rich slate of great entertainment and further globalization of our business."
Current Highlights (comparisons are to the quarter ended December 31, 2003, unless otherwise stated)
Net revenue for the quarter: North America - down 8 percent to $692 million; Europe - up 1 percent to $666 million; Asia Pacific, including Japan, up 9 percent to $70 million. Reported net revenue increased by approximately $47 million or 3 percent due to changes in foreign currency rates.
Need for Speed Underground 2 sold over 8.4 million copies. The Need for Speed franchise has now surpassed $1 billion in life-to-date sales.
FIFA 2005 sold over 4.5 million copies.
EA repurchased 656 thousand shares of its common stock during the quarter.
The Company had 27 platinum titles in the calendar year.
The Sims franchise sold more than 16 million copies in the calendar year.
The Need for Speed franchise sold more than 15 million copies in the calendar year.
The Company completed its acquisition of Criterion Software.
EA entered into an agreement to purchase approximately 19.9 percent of Ubisoft for a purchase price of 19.69 Euros per share or approximately $90 million in total.
EA has recently completed its tender offer for shares of Digital Illusions, C.E. at 61 Swedish Kroners or approximately $8.71 per share.
Business Outlook
The following forward-looking statements reflect expectations as of January 25, 2005. Results may be materially different and are affected by many factors, such as changes in foreign exchange rates, the overall global economy, the popular appeal of our products, our effective tax rate, development delays, our ability to secure key licenses and other factors detailed in this release and in our annual and quarterly SEC filings.
Fiscal Year Expectations - Ending March 31, 2005
Net revenue is expected to be between $3.275 and $3.325 billion - as compared to $2.957 billion for fiscal 2004.
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to be between $1.90 and $1.95 - as compared to $1.84 for fiscal 2004. This range does not factor in eight cents of estimated charges related principally to our acquisition of Criterion Software and tender offer for Digital Illusions C.E.
GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to be between $1.82 and $1.87 - as compared to $1.87 for fiscal 2004.
Our expected results include the projected impact of our share repurchase program.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Electronic Arts uses non-GAAP measures of operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share. These non-GAAP measures exclude the following items, including any related tax effect, from the Company's statement of operations:
Amortization of intangibles
Employee stock-based compensation
Restructuring and asset impairment charges
Acquired in-process technology
Other-than-temporary impairment of investments in affiliates
In addition, other significant unforeseeable and non-recurring items may occur from time to time that require an adjustment to these non-GAAP measures. For example, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, a $20 million non-recurring benefit to the Company's income tax expense was included in the GAAP results but excluded from the non-GAAP results. When these items occur, the accounting impact will become a reconciling item between the GAAP results and these non-GAAP measures. In addition, they will be described in the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results included as part of the supplemental disclosures to the related release.
The Company believes that excluding these items is useful for illustrating and explaining operating results and comparisons to prior periods. Management considers these non-GAAP measures in its decision-making to facilitate more relevant operating comparisons.
A reconciliation of GAAP operating income to non-GAAP operating income; GAAP net income to non-GAAP net income; and GAAP diluted earnings per share to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share are included as part of the supplemental disclosures to this release.
Conference Call
Electronic Arts will host a conference call on January 25, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) to review the results for the Company's third quarter ended December 31, 2004. Listeners may access the conference call live via webcast (http://investor.ea.com). A webcast archive of the conference call will be available for one year at http://investor.ea.com.
Some statements set forth in this release, including those under the heading "Business Outlook," contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Statements including words such as "anticipate", "believe" or "expect" and statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to business and economic risks and actual events or actual future results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Some of the factors which could cause our results to differ materially from our expectations include the following: our ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms; the seasonality and cyclical nature of the interactive game segment; timely development and release of our products; our ability to secure licenses to valuable entertainment properties on favorable terms; consumer spending trends; competition in our industry; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; changes in effective tax rates; adoption of new accounting regulations and standards; potential regulation of our products in key territories; developments in the law regarding protection of our products; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; and other factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2004 and in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, including those made under the "Business Outlook" heading.
Note to Editors: Need for Speed, The Sims, The Urbz, Sims in the City and John Madden Football are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. The Lord of the Rings and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. GoldenEye Rogue Agent is a trademark of Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. NBA, NFL, Tiger Woods, PGA TOUR and FIFA are trademarks of their respective owners and used with permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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