Good morning, and welcome to our Q2 2025/26 results presentation. It's great to be back in Stockholm today together with Andrea Gasparini, our CFO.

I will start with an overview of some highlights from the second quarter, after which Andrea will walk you through the financials. I'll then return with a few concluding remarks before we open up for questions.

Sales in games published by Asmodee studios were driven by long-standing lines such as Catan with its 6th edition, Ticket to Ride with a new refresh, Dobble/Spot It!, and a notably strong performance from Exploding Kittens product lines. It was further supported by successful new releases, including Lego Brick Like This, Exploding Kittens: The Board Game, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and Star Wars: Battle of Hoth.

Sales of Star Wars: Unlimited were also sustained by the release of the Legends of the Force set and took center stage at our highly successful international tournament in Las Vegas, the Galactic Championship, which welcomed over 3,500 players from around the world. The strong growth in games published by partners was mainly driven by successful trading card game releases, including Scarlet & Violet—Black Bolt and Scarlet & Violet—White Flare, the latest Pokémon TCG expansions.

Sales were further supported by pre-sell-in of the Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution. We also saw strong performance in trading card games published by Bandai, including the continued success of One Piece and its latest set, Royal Blood, as well as the launch of the Gundam Card Game, driven by the accompanying TV series on Netflix.

Additionally, the launch of Magic: The Gathering—Marvel's Spider-Man this quarter was met with high player demand. During the quarter, we announced a new strategic licensing agreement between Hasbro and our Gamegenic studio specialized in premium gaming accessories—Gamegenic.

The agreement begins with a complete product line distributed globally by Asmodee and dedicated to Magic: The Gathering Marvel's Spider-Man set. We also launched our 30th anniversary campaign showcasing three decades of success rooted into our new brand identity.

The campaign will run from September through March 2026, both digitally and at retail. After the end of the quarter, we continued to execute our M&A strategy with the bolt-on acquisition of Cthulhu: Death May Die IPs and games.

We also announced several media deals on our IPs with Banijay and Netflix, respectively, on Werewolves of Miller's Hollow and Catan. We have now entered our most active and dynamic period of the year.

Moving on to the highlights of the second quarter, where I am pleased to report healthy sales and EBITDA growth, driven by the continued success of our novelties and long-sellers across both board games and trading card games. Net sales reached €403 million, representing organic year-on-year growth of 23%.

The performance was driven by continued strong performance within games published by partners, growing 30% in the quarter in a continued very active market. Sales of games published by Asmodee increased by 5% year-over-year and was driven by both long-selling lines as well as new releases I mentioned earlier.

The adjusted EBITDA increased by 11%, mainly thanks to higher sales volumes. Free cash flow decreased in the quarter and amounted to -€23 million, as the higher EBITDA was offset by working capital effects.

We ended the quarter at a net debt on adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.4 times, to be compared to 4.5 times a year ago, after M&A commitments. US sales increased slightly in the quarter, with positive dynamics on social games, despite being impacted by both softer consumer sentiment overall and unfavorable foreign exchange.

The direct impact of tariffs was partly offset by selectively applying price increases that took effect during the quarter and will continue to unfold in the upcoming quarters. We obviously continue to monitor closely the situation and optimize our supply chain as tariff-related effects and the impact of our measures will continue to unfold in the upcoming quarters.

With these words, I will now hand over to Andrea.

Thank you, Thomas, and good morning, everybody. Let's now turn to sales for the second quarter, where net sales reached €403 million, year-on-year increase of 20.8%.

On an organic basis, sales grew by 23.4%. Structural changes relating to the divestment of Twin Sails Interactive had an effect of -0.5%, and the impact of exchange rates was -2.1%.

Breaking down sales by publisher, Asmodee published games increased by 5.1% year-over-year, and published by partners increased by 30.2%. The other category declined by 4.3%, impacted by Twin Sails Interactive.

Sales in games published by Asmodee increased mid-single digit, despite being impacted by the weakening US dollar impact as well as softer consumer sentiment in the US. Sales growth was primarily driven by both long-sellers, as explained by Thomas before, as well as successful new releases.

We also saw strong performance from Exploding Kittens product line that boosted sales in the United States, where net sales were back to growth in this second quarter. Star Wars: Unlimited is resilient in a highly demanding and competitive market.

Our goal is to preserve its positioning in the TCG segment during the second year of its lifecycle, with continued investment in customer engagement through the Galactic Championship and organized plays. During the H1, the game reached a stabilizing phase that we intend to solidify in the current and upcoming months.

The strong performance in games published by partners was driven by continued momentum on major TCGs, primarily from Pokémon, One Piece, and Magic. This performance came despite a small negative timing effect between Q2 and Q3 related to Pokémon Mega Evolution launch, which occurred in October this year versus the corresponding one in September last year.

The majority of sell-in was, however, completed in Q2, limiting the overall cut-off impact to the P&L and the free cash flow. It's worth remembering that we are now comparing to a more normative Pokémon performance in the second half of the current fiscal year.

From a category point of view, we saw solid double-digit growth in the TCG category as well as growth within the board game category. The strong momentum in TCG category is influencing the performance of the board games, as both mass retailers and hobby stores, who have limited shelf space and resources, are currently giving more prominence to the TCG products.

Looking at year-to-date development, net sales reached €752 million, year-on-year increase of 25.7%, and on an organic basis, sales grew by 28.2% as a result of the strong sales momentum seen this year. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 11% in the second quarter, reaching €76.1 million compared to €68.5 million last year.

This €8 million increase builds on the strong €10 million growth already achieved in Q1, confirming the continued momentum and resilience of our operating model. The increase reflects a combination of factors: higher EBITDA volumes supported by solid sales momentum, which positively contributed to EBITDA; and disciplined cost management, with the personnel costs increasing by only €4.5 million, a rise three times lower than top line.

This demonstrates tight cost control over volume-driven needs and highlights the scalability and efficiency of our structure in a high-demand environment. Other operating expenses increased by €14.3 million, reflecting both strategic investment and volume-related growth.

Roughly one third of the increase stems from higher marketing investment to support long-term growth, including major industry events such as Gen Con in US, Gamescom in Germany, and our highly successful Galactic Championship in Las Vegas. Around one quarter relates to variable costs such as shipping and royalties linked to the strong sales development, and the remaining portion reflects structural and transitional effects, including costs associated with becoming a standalone listed company, expanded store capacity, and the current performance of minority investment.

From a margin perspective, adjusted EBITDA reached 18.9% in the quarter, decreasing by 160 basis points from last year. About 140 basis points of this decline were due to a less favorable sales mix that we have already discussed about in the previous quarter, reflecting the strong performance of published partner games in this fiscal year.

Importantly, this mix effect highlights the success of our partnerships, which continue to broaden our portfolio and strengthen our market position. The remaining 20 basis points were attributable to the increase in other operating expenses.

Below the EBITDA line, we recorded an impact of -€33.8 million in net financials due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration and put and call on non-controlling interest. This primarily relates to the improved operational performance and positive outlook for Exploding Kittens.

This effect is non-cash for the quarter, and the final value and cash outflows will be determined upon the exercising of the call option expected during the first half of the calendar year 2026. Looking at the year-to-date performance, the first half clearly demonstrated the scalability and efficiency of our business model and the strong operational leverage achieved through disciplined cost management.

The adjusted EBITDA increased by €18 million year-to-date, already exceeding the €16.5 million full-year growth recorded in fiscal year 2024/2025, meaning that we have already delivered 9% more growth in just half a year than in the entire prior year. Moving on to cash flow, the free cash flow after income tax and capitalized lease payment amounted to -€23.3 million in this second quarter compared to €15.4 million in the same period last year.

The free cash flow benefited from the higher EBITDA in the quarter, but this was absorbed or invested in working capital effect, which mainly reflects timing factors and the strong commercial momentum we are currently experiencing. Looking at the working capital more closely, inventories increased by €58 million.

Last year it was €36 million, in line with normal seasonal pattern as we build up stock within the board game category ahead of a high-activity period in Q3. Compared to last year, inventories were also higher due to the stronger sales, notably on the TCGs, and timing effect between Q2 and Q3, particularly linked to the TCG releases I was mentioning earlier.

Receivable increased by €43 million compared to €51 million last year. Despite the higher sales, the impact was smaller than prior year, demonstrating our working capital management and improved cash collection discipline.

Payable increased by €14 million compared to €43 million last year. This less favorable movement primarily reflects the strong growth in the TCG category, which at current sales level leads to a different cash flow pattern than historically.

In other words, this is a direct consequence of the strong sales performance and timing of releases. CapEx for the quarter totaled €4.6 million, representing 1.1% of sales.

The year-to-date free cash flow after tax and capitalized lease payment amounted to €1.5 million. The year-to-date evolution primarily reflects a temporary working capital movement driven by strong commercial activity and the phasing of product releases.

We expect the inventory effect to unwind over the coming months, consistent with our normal seasonal pattern, primarily reflecting the reduction of board game inventories toward the end of the fiscal year. Moving on to balance sheet and capital structure, net debt before M&A commitment at the end of Q2 stood at €439 million, resulting in a net debt on EBITDA ratio of 1.8 times compared to 4.1 times last year and to 1.7 times in Q1.

Net debt after M&A commitment at the end of the quarter amounted to €579 million, resulting in a leverage ratio of 2.4 times compared to 4.5 times last year and 2.1 times in Q1. The evolution of the ratio compared to Q1 is fairly limited before M&A commitment and is due to the seasonality of the free cash flow development.

The increase of the ratio by 0.3 times after the M&A commitment is a temporary increase due to the increase of the put and call of EK, primarily related to the improvement in the current and expected operational performance of Exploding Kittens. Cash and cash equivalent at the end of the period amounted to €258 million compared to €88 million last year and €287 million in Q1.

In addition, we still have access to the unutilized RCF of €150 million. With that, I hand back to Thomas.

Thank you, Andrea. Before we open up for questions, I would like to make some concluding remarks.

During the second quarter, we reported growth across both TCGs and board games and increased our adjusted EBITDA by 11% year-over-year. The free cash flow decreased in the quarter as the higher EBITDA was offset by working capital effects, and we end the quarter with strong balance sheet.

Looking forward, we have now entered our most active and dynamic period of the year. We continue to focus on executing on our M&A agenda with the acquisition of Cthulhu: Death May Die IP and games after the end of the quarter.

As Andrea said, our call option to acquire the remaining minority stake in Exploding Kittens is expected to be exercised during the first half of calendar year 2026. We will continue to invest in marketing and strengthen the organization to support long-term growth.

The direct impact of tariffs was partly offset by selectively applied price increases that took effect during the quarter. The tariff-related effect and the impact of our measures will continue to unfold in the coming quarters, and we obviously continue to remain attentive to an uncertain external environment.

With that, I am now opening up the floor for questions.

Hi, Andrea, and hi, Thomas, and thank you for taking my questions. My first question is on games published by Asmodee.

It grew 5% year-over-year. Are you able to add any more flavor on how much the long-selling titles represented of that growth relative to the new releases you had here in Q2?

What we see in the games published by Asmodee is a strong continued performance of the long-sellers that is currently boosted by very successful new releases.

Perfect. On a point there, you stated that Star Wars: Unlimited was sustained year-over-year.

Should we read that as kind of flat year-over-year? Did I understand you correctly that you thought that you could accelerate activity here ahead of the coming quarters, or did I misunderstand that?

What we're saying, and that's the most important part, is we want to make Star Wars: Unlimited as a long-seller and installed in the long run as a TCG. To do that, as Andrea pointed out, we are investing in organized play, in the Galactics, and in all those events that engage with the community.

Today, if you look at the past sets or the most recent sets, we are stabilizing and, I would say, strengthening the current position of Star Wars: Unlimited. I would say that for the future, we prefer to work on stabilizing and managing expectations in order for it to be a continued success for the upcoming years.

Perfect. Very clear.

Then just a question on the US situation. You've been flagging it since I think the Q4 report.

With the US and China now having kind of postponed further tariff talks by at least one year, would you say that the impact on how retailers kind of place orders, has that situation improved, or is it relatively unchanged from what you saw in Q1?

What we see is that the retailers, they have to compose like we do between two things: one, which is the tariffs, and the second one, which is the consumer sentiment. On the tariff side, I think that for Asmodee's products, we've done the job between adjusting our supply chain, announcing some selective price increases.

Those have been understood and were, to be fair, expected by consumers and by retailers. Looking forward, the real driver of the performance in the US will first be on the local market driven by consumer sentiment and the volatility of this one, or the uncertainty of American consumers right now.

The second part consolidated-wise at Asmodee level is also the impact of the foreign exchange.

Good. One other question is on just you've done two smaller M&As this year of the Zombicide IP and I can't pronounce it, but Death May Die at least, strengthening your exposure within crowdfunded games.

Can you maybe just elaborate a bit more about the opportunity you see in crowdfunding and also, secondly, on that, does the timing kind of come down to that the tariff situation during the year has kind of, I guess, cash-strapped some of these crowdfunded studios and hence created a timing opportunity for you guys to acquire crowdfunded IPs and studios?

Yeah. The reasons behind the crowdfunding strategy is that some products, in the way they are structured, could probably not exist only through retail, right?

That's both linked to their margin structure, but also because crowdfunding is actually a very strong consumer engagement way of launching the product. It drives demand, it creates excitement, and it's really a way of interacting with the consumers in a digital way that is quite different from traditional product launches.

For us, it's complementary to the other product lines that are launched in a more traditional way. It's true that with games with a lot of miniatures, board games with a lot of miniatures, this model has been seen in the past as quite successful.

Talking about the opportunities, I will not comment on the performance or the struggles that some partners are facing. What is clear is that Asmodee, and we have demonstrated over the past decades, can be a home to many more studios and intellectual property, and if the timing is right, it's the good moment to join the Asmodee family.

Perfect. My last question is just on gross margins, because, yeah, given the mix, I think the gross margin was quite strong, at least compared to Q1.

Do you have anything to say on kind of the gross margin year-over-year within games published by partners? Has that kind of improved, or is there something else driving the gross margin here, because I think it was down three percentage points year-over-year in Q1 and now it's only down 1.4% or something?

Just some more flavor there would be helpful.

We have not experienced any change in rates effect by partner, meaning that the consolidated outcome of what you call the gross margin is a consequence of the mix: first between published and distributed, and then, of course, within distributed, the different commercial condition that we have with those partners.

Perfect. Those were all my questions.

Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. First, a few on the trading cards.

I know that you don't really give us any kind of split between the different kind of games here, but I wonder if you can give us something regarding how much the other or newer trading cards games outside of the two big ones sort of are growing, or contributing to growth at least currently, if you understand my question.

Thank you, Simon, for your question. What we see in the contribution to the growth is coming across the board.

However, I would say those benefiting from stronger tailwinds are on the sides of Pokémon and One Piece. One Piece is one of the clear winners of that period.

Okay. Is it fair to assume then that One Piece is sort of at least moving the needle?

It is significantly contributing to our growth alongside the others. Yes, it's one of those in the distributed TCGs that has become of a relevant size.

All right. Thank you.

Then on timing effects with Pokémon, you talked about pre-sell-in of Mega Evolution, and I wonder how we should think about that into Q3, because if I remember correctly, last year you had the comparable set, Stellar Crown, was released earlier in September, and now you have this in early October, I think, the full launch of Mega Evolution. Should we expect that you can have a boost from Mega Evolution in Q3 because it was delayed a bit, or did you take most of the total sales volume in the pre-sell-in volumes already here this quarter?

This year is pretty dynamic in terms of that franchise. As yes, Scarlet & Violet is the key set, and this is also a very special one because it has the black and white version.

It's a bit different than the reference set last year. Then on top of it, there is the Mega Evolution, which is a transitional cycle.

We had Mega Evolution 1 and 2 release in Q3, there will be the Mega Evolution 3 in Q4, potentially also maybe some expansion in Q4. It's a very dynamic line-up that they are actually releasing, consistent with the end of the three-year cycle that we have explained several times.

There has been a small cut-off effect that has impacted the P&L. We have measured it at around 10 to €15 million sales, because we've been able to ship some type of client, but not all of our clients.

There's potentially some movement between the quarter. The underlying line-up of product and is what counts most for us and is still very dynamic.

The cut-off effect, the 10 to €15 million you mentioned, are you talking about the pre-selling volumes affecting this quarter, or?

Yes, exactly. The one that have been made this quarter and that are not comparable to the last year.

Yeah. All right.

Thanks for that. Just to follow up on the board game growth as well.

You talked earlier here about new releases, US was also slightly better this quarter. I wonder what your view is of the broader market growth currently heading into the holiday season.

It's complex questions in the sense that there are different dynamics happening depending on where you look at in the world. In the US, we are mainly working on board games.

We do have Unlimited on TCGs, but we're not distributing third-party TCGs. There on the board game side, the market is challenging, has been declining in Q2 from around 8% in the sell-out.

In that quarter, Asmodee, thanks to the breadth of our portfolio, has been able to capture some good momentum in lower price point products, especially from Exploding Kittens, which enabled us to limit the sell-out decrease to only 2%. We've been also able to grow because we are not just in the mass market.

The figures I provided are just for the mass market. We also have the hobby market, and we measure ourselves in sell-in to retail, especially on the new releases.

The US is a tough market, where I would say consumers currently favor more lower price point products. We will have contribution at Asmodee that will come from a different product mix within board games than we used to have in the previous years.

Then in Europe, the market is growing in both categories, in TCGs and also in board games. Obviously, stronger growth in TCGs year-on-year currently, also because up until somewhere around September, we did have, up until September '24, some headwinds.

Since September, we're back in the period of having had tailwinds last year and tailwinds this year. Hard to say where the market will be, but that's the two big areas.

When you refer to that you're now meeting tougher comps in Europe, do you mean both categories, or more specifically to TCG?

No, more specifically to distributed TCGs and especially Pokémon.

Yeah. The sort of comparable dynamics for board games in Europe, is that more similar into next quarter, or still growing, or what should we?

We do not provide forward-looking expectations. Next.

Do you think there a big shift in the comparable growth numbers looking back?

The comparison to the same quarter or to the upcoming quarters last year lies mainly on the TCG side, yes.

Yeah. All right.

Thanks for that. Just lastly from me on the cost side.

You have talked about increasing cost for a while since before and now after the spin-off, and I'm just wondering where you think that you are now in terms of the leveling up of costs, if you think you are at a good new normal here, or do you think that there's still more increases to be made?

When you look at operating cost and what we refer to cost to be for listed company, these are ramping up. During the first half of the year, this is a new cost which were not present in the first half of the last fiscal year, it will be also progressively becoming more comparable towards the end of the fiscal year.

The organization is indeed structuring itself notably on some back office department. We are monitoring those cost, and I think that we are in pretty good shape to then reach a more stabilized level, which I cannot commit on any date, but this is something that we are trying to get to.

All right. Thank you so much.

That's all for me.

Thank you, Simon.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

I have a couple. First off, on the comparisons.

It's been a discussion already, but I'll try as well here. Looking into Q3, you did really well last year with internal games.

It grew 29% back then. You said here this morning that you aim to stabilize Star Wars: Unlimited, I guess that's not really going to grow near term here.

How do you think we should view this comparison for internal games? Can you grow on it?

Is it more fair to expect a stable development, or should it decline? Any flavor there would be good.

A few elements of context on Star Wars: Unlimited. Last year in Q3, we did have the release of Set 3, but we also had some reprints of Set 1 and Set 2 to fulfill the consumer demand.

The current sets are, interestingly, stabilizing since the beginning of the year. You might have some stable to slightly lower performance on Unlimited again in the upcoming quarter versus last year.

As we said, it's absolutely not an issue for us. Then on the board game side, we have fewer launches than last year in Q3.

We had a pretty strong lineup for Q2. Those will also continue to sell in Q3, but since the main shows and the main announcements or the main releases for the end-of-year season, including Brick Like This, Battle of Hoth, Fate of the Fellowship, and Take Time more recently will be hitting the market.

All right. Thank you for that.

Then my final question is on Riftbound. You commented it on the report, I think, but any early comments here in terms of consumer reception?

Have you been able to handle the demand on your end, and is it fair to see it as a notable contributor to growth going forward?

What we've been able is to fulfill the demand based on the products that were allocated to us or given to us by the publisher. We've done our job, I would say, successfully.

Then the real topic for Riftbound will be everything around it leading to the product install in itself in the long run. That's more in the hands of the publisher rather than us.

As I said, we will be capturing the opportunity.

Sounds good. That's all from me.

Thank you.

Thanks, Eric.

Hello. Good morning, Thomas, Andrea.

I've got three questions, please. The first one, on the new deal with Lord of the Rings, can you explain us exactly what are the key changes compared to what you are doing before, and how long do you think it will take to see the full benefit of this collaboration?

Secondly, on the working capital moves, considering the underlying momentum and the business mix you expect at the end of the year, what sort of working capital moves do you expect for the full year? Any indication would be appreciated.

Finally, there was this €16 million taxes in Q2. Andrea, if you can give us a bit more color on that and what we should expect in terms of adjusted tax rate for the full year, it would be great.

Thank you.

Okay. On the first questions, which is related to the deal with Middle-earth, it's a category management deal.

Some preexisting relationships with largest partners of Middle-earth Enterprises remain managed by Middle-earth Enterprises. The objective is to work together in order to have, I would say, globally a stronger lineup of products or a stronger range of games that celebrate and engage consumers around The Lord of the Rings.

As you've noticed in the past year, at Asmodee level, we've been quite active in releasing new products. If you remember well, we had 7 Wonders Duel from Middle-earth, we had the first chapter of the trick-taking game with its second chapter coming in Q4, we had Fate of the Fellowship.

We were quite active at Asmodee level. Now, the idea behind this is to continue developing games in that universe, but also find partners to create exciting games that will not be coming from our studios, but that will benefit to the IP and to the license.

Middle-earth Enterprises is working with Asmodee because we have a clear view across the board on what games could be the best lineup possible for that IP. Once we've said this, obviously we have some products in development, and then the new deals will take roughly 2 to 3 years to come to life once we open up the new partnerships.

On the working capital movement, what we can say that end of first half of the year is really a period where we are right in the middle of the building up of the stock for board games, which we expect to unfold during the second half of the year. Then the working capital evolution on the TCGs is more set-driven, this is a shorter cash cycle.

As we do not provide the guidance on free cash flow nor on net working capital, but what we can say that as of now is that the P&L is strong, and this is a good underlying factor to then create cash in the coming months. We are now into Q3, and Q3 is very important for us, because there are key consumer moment like Black Friday weeks and Christmas period that we are monitoring carefully, because if they turn into a good P&L position, then the free cash flow should follow, subject to a close and tight inventory management, which we are on top of it, of course, as it's one of our key priorities.

Far, the underlying fundamentals are good, and we're looking forward on unwinding those net working capital position progressively in the coming months. Could you please repeat the third question, because the line was a bit blurred on our side?

Sure. The next question was on the tax expenses in Q2, the €16 million, if you can give us any color on what happened there and what we should expect in terms of adjusted tax rate for the full year.

Don't need a very precise figure, but at least a range would be useful.

Yes. The effective tax rate as of September 2025 is significantly driven by the non-recognized deferred tax asset on the parent company and some acquisition costs, the Exploding Kittens debt revaluation, which are not resulting in any tax deduction.

That's why the apparent tax rate is extremely high. If we exclude this effect, the group effective tax rate goes down to double-digit normative level, still higher than last year, and this is based on the geographical distribution of the profit this fiscal year.

Perfect. Maybe if I can add one on Star Wars: Unlimited, looking at the next 12 months, do you expect to enlarge the distribution at some point, and what's your view on the mass retail distribution for TCGs like Star Wars: Unlimited right now?

Obviously, the product development is already done for the upcoming year. Manufacturing is ongoing for most of the sets.

We have just launched mass market products for Star Wars: Unlimited with a specific set called Battle of Hoth. I would say it's early days.

Going from hobby to mass is always one of the tricky points for gameplay-driven trading card games, of which Star Wars: Unlimited is. I would say maybe we can talk about it a bit later.

We are still on the learning curve there. The idea, again, for us is that on a trading card, it's the engagement of existing players and player recruitment.

We are exploring, thanks to that kind of products, if and how additional recruitment can be done in the mass market or for broader audiences.

Perfect. Thank you, Thomas.

Thank you, Andrea.

Thank you, Nicholas.

Hi, guys. Good morning.

A couple of questions from me. I'll take them one by one.

Sorry for bringing this up again, but could you give us some more details regarding the increase in inventory levels, the strategy to manage it going forward? You mentioned in the CEO word that what has happened is basically that you've seen a different cash flow pattern than historically, right?

I'm wondering if this is more systematic in any sense or if you expect this to be completely reversed in the second half of the year as you kind of alluded to here in the call.

The increase in inventory level is pretty consistent with what we have experienced in the past. It is amplified by the volumes that we are benefiting from this year.

When we look at the inventory component, we have the TCGs, which are more set-driven, the inventories goes in and out faster. On the board games, it's more building up towards the end of the year.

It has also increased so far, up to end of H1, because, as you remember, the first half of the year was a bit softer in terms of board games compared to the TCGs. It's not a big problem, because so far we have very successful new releases.

On this one, the rotation is pretty good. On the long-sellers, these are games that basically face no obsolescence or slow-moving risks because of their nature as a long-seller.

When it comes to the last part of your question, this is mainly something that you can see on the payable side. The strong growth in TCGs is impacting a little bit the payable up to end of September, but we have made a strategic decision to secure product allocation to support this growth, which has led to different purchasing and payment patterns, and consequently, the free cash flow as of end of September is a bit tricky to compare compared to historical levels.

We are really leveraging on the strength of our balance sheet, working with our partners, to secure on our side a healthy free cash flow generation and also to invest on those relationships so that Asmodee can be considered even more a partner of choice for those key franchises.

Right. That makes sense.

Just a quick follow-up on that. Is there something that has changed with you perhaps offering more favorable payment terms to your customers, or is there anything in that regard that has changed?

We do not comment on specific condition by vendors, but short term, we can, as I said, always strategically moves inventories in and out and be more strategic or opportunistic with some of those vendors. Yes, there could be those changes affecting quarter-over-quarter net working capital.

Thanks for that clarification. I have two short questions, if that's fine.

You mention also here that the overall board game market saw a downturn in the quarter, right? Could you perhaps elaborate on what drove this decline in the market?

Is there anything that you can say on why it drove the market and perhaps where you're gaining market shares?

What we did say is that there was some decline in the sell-out on the US market. The European market is growing year-over-year.

In the US, it's mainly driven by the fact that consumers are delaying their purchases ahead of Christmas. I think what we see is that it's later and later in the year.

Some retailers also have postponed putting in place their Christmas aisles between that did impact Q2. Then lastly, consumers currently again, it's in a period where it's not yet the gifting period or the Christmas period have favored in Q2 more lower price point products, given I would say the economical uncertainty on the American market, employment market, and everything else.

Okay. A final question here.

Is there anything that you can say regarding the preorder volume here of Mega Evolution compared to previously, historically? Is there anything that has changed in the pattern historically?

No, it's it's just that it fell in a week that in weeks that are across Q2 and Q3. The the pattern of purchasing from stores is the same.

Doesn't change.

Perfect. That was all for me, guys.

Have a good day.

Thank you, Adrian.

Hi, and good morning, guys. My first question is on your regional breakdown.

You did well in most of the markets, but can you elaborate a little bit on the softness in Germany, please?

Yes. In Germany, we have several different businesses.

We have a board games business with Asmodee Germany, we have a mainly trading card and collectible business with Blackfire, and then we have our Gamegenic accessories. Strong performance on board games and coming from Gamegenic accessories.

Then we have, at Blackfire level, a softer performance because they are subject to product allocation from the partners, and especially on Magic, where they saw lower product allocation than in the past.

Nothing to worry about,

just answering the market.

Okay. Yeah.

Do you see weaker consumer sentiment in any other market than the US?

I wouldn't say weaker consumer sentiment. I think that there is currently a bit more arbitrage both from consumers and retailers towards trading card games.

They are a very hot category right now that makes the life of selling board games slightly tougher. Again, Asmodee being on all categories, if we do not capture opportunity on one side, we capture it on the other side.

A

final follow-up on the working capital management in this critical period before the high season. Are you satisfied with the inventory build-up now, or what's the risk that you could have done even more here ahead of this very active period?

It must be difficult to assess the risks here.

Our inventory levels enable us to go into the end-of-year period with sufficient inventory to fulfill the demand. As Andrea said, I think we expected a bit more performance from games rather than from TCGs, hence the way we built our inventory, but those inventories are of quality products and mainly of long-selling products, because the novelties are selling extremely well, for those there is no topic, and the inventories should unwind in the upcoming quarters.

You're satisfied with the levels now then, I guess. When you look forward in the high season period, what do you look forward to the most in your games pipeline in terms of new games, and have you seen any shift of consumer demand preference between releases and products would be interesting to hear?

What we've seen in Q2, and is always a good indication of what will work later in the year, is the very strong performance of the IP-driven novelties. Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, Fate of the Fellowship, then we have original games like Lego Brick Like This that had a very strong sell-in.

Then lastly, on the long-sellers, we had two refreshes on Catan and on Ticket to Ride. There are no major releases in Q3 apart from Set 6 of Star Wars: Unlimited, and so on the game side, I would say it would be in continuity of the releases of Q2 that will sell throughout the end-of-year period.

Perfect. That was all from me.

Thanks, Martin.

Thank you.

Hi, Thomas. I apologize for the pronunciation there of Cheuvreux.

The M&A market, how is that looking? I can't help but notice that both your two small acquisitions had the same seller.

How's the broader market looking?

I would say there is a context that enabled us to do the deals with those first two IPs, and they are IP deals, they are by essence a bit faster to execute than when we're looking at buying full studios. On the rest, I would say that there are product categories that are quite successful, and when there are successful categories, you have some studio owners that are thinking about what are their ways of growing faster, what's the next step in their evolution.

We have active discussions, but as we said in the past, we are not commenting individually, but there is a healthy pipeline of opportunities we're actively working on.

Is there a situation here where some of your partners are coming under pressure? I'm thinking with the weak US market, or sort of questionable US market at least.

As a general comment on the context, yes, it's true that some smaller publishers or publishers that have more limited financial means than us have seen some struggle, maybe less from the market and more from the tariff impact that they faced given their exposure to the US market. Will there be opportunities linked to that?

Probably, but in the end, as we always said, the way we conduct M&A is project, timing, and valuation, and so there has to be a project. It's not just being opportunistic on snatching distressed assets.

That's not the way we operate. We acquire because we see potential.

Yep, fair enough. Are there any effect of media deals, either that we should be aware of that might impact earnings in the coming 12 months or deals that you had last year that might?

Not in a material way in terms of royalties perceived. However, and the media deals we do, we do them less for the revenue that they provide, although it's still always interesting, but more for the exposure that it provides to the brand.

Just as an element of comparison, what we communicated on a year ago when the first season of the Werewolves TV show on Canal+ aired, we saw a very significant increase in sell-out for the brand in the mass market. That's what we're striving for.

It's more the impact on sales of physical products rather than at the level of the deals that we have today, the royalties. Then

just one final financial question. There seems to be something called other in financials, which is sort of €7 million, which is a fairly large figure.

What is that?

In the context of the revaluation of put and call of Exploding Kittens, we have also made some other technical adjustment, notably on discount rate and things like this.

Okay. All right.

It's a one-off sort of.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rasmus.

Thanks, Rasmus.

There is one question in the queue, but this was already answered. It relates to net working capital forecast, otherwise no other new questions.

All right. Before we close, I would like to sincerely thank our teams, because they are working very heavily right now in delivering the overperformance, the players, and obviously our partners across retail, publishing, and licensing.

The passion and commitment that is demonstrated day after day is shaping what Asmodee is today. As we look ahead with strong activity across all lines of our business, we are in a solid position to continue capturing profitable growth and creating long-term shareholder value.

Now, thank you very much for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing you in various meetings in the upcoming days.