Year-end report 2017: Record quarter with strong revenue and profit growth

Quarter October-December 2017

• Revenue grew by 30% to SEK 45.6 million (35.2), of which the organic growth was 12 (8) percent
• EBITDA increased by 82% and amounted to SEK 30.0 (16.4) million
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 21.7 (3.0) million
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.34 (0.05)
• Cash flow from operating activities was SEK 14.3 (38.4) million

Period January-December 2017

• Revenue grew by 246% to SEK 169.4 (48.9), of which the organic growth was 14 (9) percent
• EBITDA increased 620% to SEK 106.6 (14.8)
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 5.9 (0,0) million
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.10 (0,00)
• Cash flow from operating activities was SEK 64.9 (19.8) million
• The Board proposes that no dividend be paid for the financial year 2017

Significant events in the quarter

• Strategic acquisition of Nordic affiliate business for an initial purchase consideration of EUR 3 million. 
• Conversion of SEK 17.5 million of the convertible debenture into 3,888,888 new shares. Outstanding convertible loans now amount to SEK 33.5 million. 

Significant events after the quarter

• Acquisition of affiliate assets in central Europe for a purchase price of EUR 450 thousand.  
• Net Gaming releases financial targets, a clarified strategy and outcomes of forecasts for 2017.
• Key recruitments in place for future product launch within the new vertical Sports betting. 
• Investments made in chosen focus markets in line with growth strategy.
• Battle of Malta poker tournament divested for EUR 300 thousand in order to concentrate operations.

CEO's comments

The fourth quarter of 2017 ended with an EBITDA of SEK 30 million, the highest quarterly profit in Net Gaming’s history, corresponding to EBITDA growth of 82 percent. Casino has continued to develop well, with organic FTD growth of 32 percent. It is also positive that the start of 2018 has shown good underlying growth. 

During the fourth quarter, we also made a strategic acquisition by acquiring affiliate assets, mainly focused on Sweden and the UK. These are now fully integrated into our operations and so far the acquisition has developed in line with our expectations. The acquisition also enables us to grow through a new traffic source, namely Paid Media, which we can place with our existing brands and markets to add organic growth. 

We see good opportunities to grow organically and through acquisitions in new verticals. With this in mind, we have made some key recruitments in order to launch new brands of comparison sites in Sports betting during 2018. Sports betting is the single largest vertical within iGaming, accounting for about 50 percent of the total iGaming market. 

Significantly lower interest expenses, strong profit growth and strong cash flows give us scope to use our existing cash to continue making qualitative acquisitions. We have therefore made a strategically important additional acquisition of affiliate assets in central Europe. The acquisition was finalised in the first quarter of 2018 and we are continuing to look at further acquisition opportunities.  

Organic growth in existing markets is also of great importance. We shall therefore be launching some more local brands in geographic markets that are of interest to us, including Finland, Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany.  

As one can maybe imagine, growth is the word on our lips and the path towards continuing solid and sustainable growth is well mapped out. As can be seen from our newly launched financial objectives, we aim to achieve faster organic growth than our competitors. We enter 2018 with a "cleaner" income statement. Following the write-down of deferred tax assets, change in accrued income tax in the income statement will only affect the result with an amount corresponding to a tax expense of 5%. We also have new product launches and product innovations, which together with our acquisition strategy will make 2018 a highly fruitful year.

Marcus Teilman, President and CEO

Telephone +46 8 410 380 44 or mobile +356 9936 7352 marcus.teilman@netgaming.se

This information is information that Net Gaming Europe AB (publ) is required to disclose in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation and, where applicable, the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was provided by the contact person above for publication on 22 February 2018 at 08.30 CET.