FriendTimes (06820) released its unaudited 2026 interim results for the six months ended 30 June, detailing mixed top-line trends and a sharp rebound in profitability.
Financial Performance • Revenue dipped 3.80 % year-on-year to RMB 599.49 million, reflecting softer overseas game income despite stable domestic sales. • Gross profit fell 1.90 % to RMB 450.62 million; however, gross margin improved to 75.2 % (H1 2025: 73.6 %) on a richer contribution from higher-margin channels. • Net profit surged 73.97 % to RMB 70.86 million, buoyed by a RMB 118.62 million fair-value gain on financial assets measured at FVPL and higher investment income. • Sales and marketing expenses rose 4.90 % to RMB 306.38 million, while R&D spend climbed 16.90 % to RMB 154.05 million as the group expanded its game pipeline and AI capabilities. • Basic earnings per share increased to RMB 0.03 (H1 2025: RMB 0.02).
Balance Sheet and Cash Flow • Total assets stood at RMB 1.48 billion (31 Dec 2025: RMB 1.43 billion); total equity reached RMB 1.27 billion. • Cash and cash equivalents totalled RMB 194.45 million, up from RMB 153.02 million at year-end 2025; net cash outflow from operations amounted to RMB 26.32 million. • Gearing remained modest at 6.4 %, with interest-bearing borrowings of RMB 82.05 million. • Financial assets at FVPL expanded to RMB 579.63 million (31 Dec 2025: RMB 463.36 million), including RMB 205.53 million in bank and securities wealth-management products and RMB 294.09 million in venture-capital partnerships.
Business Highlights • Domestic games contributed 84.7 % of H1 revenue, offsetting a 26.0 % decline in overseas turnover. • Core titles such as A Story of Lala’s: Rising Star, Heartbeat Fall and Legend of Empress maintained top-rank positions in major mini-game platforms. • The company deepened AI integration across R&D, distribution and operations, noting efficiency gains in art creation and code generation and expanded use of AI for localisation, customer service and marketing content. • Strategic investments included stakes in high-tech firms IBDTEC, Linkerbot and Novacore, alongside broader allocations to AI hardware, quantum and aerospace via 11 venture-capital funds.
Capital Management • Since listing in 2019, FriendTimes has returned more than RMB 790 million to shareholders; a final dividend of RMB 36.34 million for FY 2025 was paid during the period. No interim dividend was proposed. • Share Award Scheme purchases continued, bringing total shares held for the scheme to about 108.39 million (5.0 % of issued capital). • Chairman and CEO Jiang Xiaohuang raised his stake by 0.3 % in late June 2026.
Outlook Management reiterated its focus on research-operation integration, cost control and AI-driven innovation to strengthen its multi-genre game portfolio and global expansion, while continuing disciplined capital deployment through selective strategic and financial investments.