Board game publishing and distribution giant Asmodee has published its annual report for the 2024-25 financial year, the first since it left its erstwhile parent company Embracer Group, and it has turned a profit - barely. The firm's net profit for the year was $5.46 (€4.69) million on paper, dropping to $1.33 (€1.14) million after accounting for exchange rate fluctuations with its various international subsidiaries. That's still a lot of money - but in 2023-24 tabletop titan Games Workshop realised a $204 (£150) million profit, despite having a far lower turnover. What gives?
Asmodee owns some of the best board game brands on the market, is the primary global distributor for many more, and has a massive slice of the TCG market. Its turn-over reflects this: in 2024-25 the firm made $1.59 (€1.37) billion in sales, resulting in a healthy operating profit of $135.7 (€116.7) million.
But according to the firm's management accounts - which you can check out here, if you really like numbers - Asmodee paid out a total of $107 (€92) million on 'financial expenses'. The largest items under that heading are $65.8 (€56.6) million in interest payments for a bridging loan, and then $25.5 (€22.0) million of interest payments for bonds, just over $90 million in interest payments to creditors.
So while Games Workshop is distributing its profit to shareholders, employees, and investing funds in its business, Asmodee is servicing debt. And we know where that debt came from.
On April 16 2024, Asmodee secured a massive 'bridging loan' of $1.06 billion (€917 million) against its assets. It's called a 'bridging loan' because it's supposed to be temporary - and on December 12 2024 paid off the loan by issuing bonds worth $1092 (€940) million.
However, all that cash hasn't gone into anything productive. Asmodee was previously part of Embracer Group, a multinational investment vehicle that used a lot of investment capital to buy up large swathes of the videogame industry, and Asmodee to boot.
As we reported in April 2024, the money secured against Asmodee's assets was transferred to Embracer, to pay off a different loan that was about to come due. Embracer later transferred $420 (€400) million back to Asmodee, which used $349 (€300) million to pay off some of its bonds, and added the rest to its current account to fuel future acquisitions.
Asmodee reports that at the end of financial year 2024-25, it has outstanding bonds worth $735 (€633 million), with total debts worth 2.3 times its annual earnings before tax, interest payments, and other deductibles. That's a marked improvement from the 3.9 times ratio we reported on in 2024 when the debts were first secured on Asmodee's assets.
However, I find it alarming that Asmodee - the biggest business in global board game publishing and distribution - has a clear profit 1,000 times smaller than its revenue. That feels like a very, very narrow margin between profit and loss for such a huge business.
While the bond repayments should be much less onerous than the bridging loan, half them have a 'floating' interest rate that's based on EURIBOR (not a mountain in Lord of the Rings, but rather the average of several European banks' interest rates). If base rates go up, so will Asmodee's repayments - and it had better hope that board game sales rise to cover the gap.
If you're a board gamer who's keen to discuss this further, or a financial analyst who wants to lecture me for alarmism, come and join us in the official Wargamer Discord community!
If all of that number talk has gotten you fired up for a heavyweight board game challenge, check out Wargamer's guide to the best strategy board games!