Winking Studios swings to first-half loss as costs rise
Alliance News) - Winking Studios Ltd on Friday reported double-digit-percentage revenue growth for the first half of this year, but swung to a loss as administrative expenses climbed.
Nonetheless, Winking shares were up 3.2% at 14.45 pence in London on Friday morning.
The Singapore-based video game services company reported a USD2.6 million pretax loss for the six months ended June 30, flipped from a USD953,000 profit for the prior year.
This was despite revenue rising by 21% to USD23.5 million from USD19.4 million. Winking also reported organic revenue growth of 8.9%, with Art Outsourcing revenue increasing by 25%, and noted that 37.4% of total revenue was from follow-up projects, down slightly year-on-year from 38.8%.
The cost of sales grew 32% to USD17.8 million from USD13.5 million, while administrative expenses climbed 40% to USD6.1 million from USD4.3 million. Distribution & marketing costs jumped 52% to USD1.6 million from USD1.1 million.
Looking ahead, Winking reaffirmed that it expects second-half revenue to exceed that of the first half, and forecast a "modest" adjusted Ebitda loss for the full year. It said this will reflect increased investment to create new revenue streams, strengthen its competitive position and deliver more significant long-term returns.
"The first half demonstrates the strength of our core business and the scale of the opportunity we are building towards," Chief Executive Officer Johnny Jan commented. "Revenue grew...led by strong demand for art outsourcing, while repeat business and our bookings provide good visibility over underlying activity.
"At the same time, we chose to accelerate investment in two areas where we see significant long-term potential: building a stronger North American presence through the acquisition of and further investment into [April acquisition Studios Ampera Inc] and developing AI-enabled game development capabilities."
Winking said core demand for outsourcing "remains robust", with USD51.6 million in 24-month indicative bookings. Of this, it expects to secure USD22.4 million in the current half-year. The company also noted that it has secured its first co-development projects.
Jan said Winking is "encouraged" by "the early commercial traction we are seeing from AI-enabled game development," although he added: "Our AI initiative is principally focused on enhancing game-development workflows.
"Game art production continues to depend on human creativity, artistic judgement and rigorous quality control."
Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.