Angry Birds maker turns profitable in 2016

Following a loss-making year, Finnish company Rovio announced Wednesday it gained a remarkable profit in the first half of 2016.

Known for its Angry Birds games, the Espoo-based entertainment company generated revenue of 76.4 million euros (about 85.6 million U.S. dollars), 10.3 million more than the first six months last year.

Its EBIT (Earning before Interest & Taxes) profit was 5.7 million euros, rising by 15.9 million compared with the same period in 2015.

The results were achieved before profits from the movie of Angry Birds were counted.

The movie has earned more than 347 million U.S. dollars at the box office globally since it started to release in May. It turned out to be the most selling newly released film in 52 countries including China and the United States, said Rovio.

"With the excellent performance of our games portfolio and the fantastic movie, the Angry Birds brand is flying high," said Kati Levoranta, CEO of Rovio.

Levoranta said the company has some new games and other projects in development. It is also going to produce the sequel to the Angry Birds movie.

Founded in 2003, Rovio grew rapidly after launching the "Angry Birds" game at the end of 2009.

However, it suffered from declining sales in 2013 and swung to a loss in 2015. The weak performance resulted in massive layoffs. Analysts believed the wide-ranging portfolio of businesses was to blame.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Levoranta recalled the declining years were difficult moment.

"We tried a lot of different things, and it was kind of very innovative per se as well, and some of the ideas applied and some might not," she said.

Later on, the company started to focus on the game and animation businesses, she added. Endit