Ubisoft Entertainment shares jump on cash forecast| Business News

Shares in Paris gained more than 10% on Friday, clawing back some of this year’s losses, but the stock is still down nearly 30% since January.

The French videogame maker said Thursday that it expected cash between 1.25 billion and 1.35 billion euros ($1.48 billion-$1.60 billion) at the end of March, when Ubisoft’s fiscal year closes.

The company said the money would be fully available to service debt maturities, reassuring investors that it has sufficient liquidity at hand. It also said it was weighing options to extend its debt maturity.

“Our financial position and available cash provide the flexibility needed to address the near-term maturity, while we continue to work on extending our debt profile,” Chief Executive Yves Guillemot said.

The cash forecast comes weeks after the group outlined structural changes, the discontinuation and postponement of several games, studio closures and cut financial targets for fiscal 2026, part of efforts to turn its business around following years of game production delays, glitches and cancellations.

Ubisoft was riding high when lockdowns and other pandemic-era restrictions boosted player engagement as people were forced to spend more time at home. However, the lifting of those restrictions and an increasingly competitive market forced it to issue several profit warnings and focus resources on games that were more likely to prove big hits with players. Its stock is down about 90% since the end of 2021.

Ubisoft said net bookings for the quarter ended Dec. 31 came in at 338 million euros, up 12% on year and roughly in line with preliminary figures it disclosed last month.

The company said it continued to expect net bookings of around 1.5 billion euros and a non-IFRS operating loss of around 1 billion euros for the year to the end of March.

Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com and Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com