The delay kicked off all the usual takeover rumours. People were convinced Ubisoft were about to announce something huge. Instead, what actually happened was much more boring: Ubisoft had to fix an accounting issue from last year.
What actually caused the delay
While going through the half-year numbers, the auditors found a problem with how Ubisoft logged revenue from a partnership in FY24–25. Under IFRS 15, that revenue had to be recognised over time, not upfront, so the accounts needed to be restated. Because of that, a new partnership this quarter also couldn’t be booked under IFRS 15 yet.
Nothing dramatic. Just rules being rules.
Why this spiralled into a bigger issue
Fixing last year’s numbers changed Ubisoft’s financial ratios. That pushed them out of compliance with some of their loan covenants.
To get back in line, they had to organise early repayment of around €286 million in loans before publishing anything. That’s why trading was paused and only resumed once everything was sorted.
The rumour mill wasn’t helping
All the noise about buyouts ended up being exactly that. Noise.
This wasn’t a takeover, a secret deal, or anyone circling the company. Ubisoft even said the restatement has no impact on their non-IFRS indicators. It was just an accounting correction and the clean-up that came with it.
The bottom line
Everyone expected a huge announcement. What we got was Ubisoft fixing paperwork and dealing with the knock-on effect in their financing. Once that was done, the results went live and trading reopened.
Simple, if not exactly exciting.