Glu Mobile raises full-year forecasts after $68.7m quarter
Company expects bookings to reach between $307m and $312m, the highest in three years
Free-to-play specialist Glu Mobile has released the financial results for its second quarter, which indicate the mobile publisher's troubles could soon be behind it.
The firm reports revenues of $68.7m for the three months ended June 30th, 2017 - an increase of 42% when compared to the year before. Bookings came in at $82.5m, well over the higher end of its previous guidance and a year-on-year improvement of 62%.
As a result, the company has raised its full-year bookings guidances to between $307m and $312m. Even the lowest of these two forecasts is a 43% increase on the $214m seen in 2016 and a 27% rise of the $242.2m reported in 2015.
The primary driver behind this growth was cited as Design Home, an interior design gae, as well as MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2017 and Covet Fashion. It signifies that a shift away from celebrity-based titles such as Kim Kardashian: Hollywood could dictate the company's future.
Glu has suffered a rough couple of years. The publisher saw a $50m drop in revenues last year, and further losses in Q1 earlier in 2017. The firm was also compelled to restructure itself, leading to the closure of two studios and cutting more than 100 jobs. Similar job cuts were seen earlier last year after another shaky first quarter.
However, these second quarter results are much more promising with Wedbush Morgan stating: "Glu appears to be making meaningful strides towards sustained profitability." The analyst firm predicts it could achieve this profitability by Q1 2018, rather than the previously predicted Q3 2018, but warns this could change if Design Home's popularity wanes.