Rovio’s games business has nearly doubled its Q1 revenue year-on-year after bringing in €56.6 million ($61.7 million) for the three months ending March 31st 2017.

Earnings before interest and taxes increased to €8.8 million ($9.6 million) from €5.7 million ($6.2 million) in Q1 2016.

Overall the Angry Birds developer posted revenues of €66.3 million ($72.3 million) for Q1, a rise of 94.4% year-on-year and a 1.2% growth compared to Q4 2016. EBIT was €5.2 million ($5.7 million), up €4.3 million ($4.7 million) from the same period the year prior.

Growth across business

Rovio’s Brand Licensing unit, which includes consumer products and content licensing, generated €9.7 million ($10.5 million) in revenue, up from €4.4 million ($4.8 million) in Q1 2016. Earnings before interest and tax were a loss for this division though, at -€0.7 million (-$763k).

This was still an improvement from Q1 2016 however, when the unit reported losses of €2.7 million ($2.9 million).

Further growth is expected in the licensing unit in 2017 from the recognition of Angry Birds movie revenues.

“The Q1 results indicate that the positive trend from 2016 is continuing,” said Rovio CEO Kati Levoranta.

“We have become more focused and improved our efficiency, which further strengthens our ability to continue on a profitable growth path. I am very happy that our Angry Birds games franchise and especially Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Blast and Angry Birds Friends are performing extremely well.

“We are also excited to see our new game with a new IP, the Battle Bay, releasing May 4th across the globe.”