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Frontier Developments

FDEV.L
65
Electronic Gaming & Multimedia · Technology
Price
445.00 GBp
-5.50 (-1.22%)
Market Cap
£154.6M
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
65
Winston is curious
A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Nov 30, 2025
How the score breaks down
Quality
Good
Growth
Strong
Cash Flow
Exceptional
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good

Winston Score History

The full picture

Frontier Developments is a British video game studio that makes and publishes its own games. Its best-known titles include Elite Dangerous, a space exploration game, and the Planet series — Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo — where players build and manage theme parks or wildlife parks. The company sells directly to PC and console gamers worldwide.

Frontier earns money through upfront game sales, downloadable content packs, and in-game purchases that extend the life of each title. It is based in Cambridge, England, and generates most of its revenue from PC platforms, particularly Steam. Its main competitive advantage is deep expertise in simulation and management games, a niche where it has built a loyal fanbase over many years. The key risk is that the company is small and depends heavily on a handful of titles, so a poorly received new release can have an outsized negative impact on revenue.

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+4.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+3.3% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow EPS growth

R&D Spend

£12M/ year

Declining (-83% vs prior year)

13.0% of revenue

In line with sector average (15%)

R&D spend declining — could signal cost-cutting or efficiency

Insider Activity

47.0%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

£44M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth context

Frontier Developments is growing revenue at 4% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Share count broadly stable

0.5% over 4y

The share count has stayed roughly flat over this period — little dilution or buyback activity.

Diluted shares outstanding: 40.5M (2021) → 40.3M (2025)

Score breakdown

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
42.2%
Healthy — 42.2% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
12.5%
Healthy — 12.5% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
12.4%
Good — 12.4% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+15.8%
Fast-growing sales (+15.8% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
+26.8%
Earnings growing fast (+26.8% YoY)

Earnings growing 25%+ a year. The compounder zone.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
5/8 quarters
Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
252%
Turns 252% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
48.7%
Converts sales into free cash efficiently (48.7%)

Free cash flow margin above 20%. Out of every $100 in sales, more than $20 is real cash they keep.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
N/A
Data not available
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
20.63x
Comfortably covers interest (20.6x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
8.6x
Attractive valuation — P/E 8.6

P/E under 10. The price tag is small relative to last year's profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
-4.4
SLOWING
Earnings expected to fall — forward P/E higher than today

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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