Interim report Q3 2017

Continued strong growth with sustained profitability

Third quarter (July-Sep 2017)

• Revenue increased by 26% to MEUR 19.3 (15.3)
• B2B Revenue increased by 31% to MEUR 10.1 (7.7)
• EBITDA increased by 44% to MEUR 4.2 (2.9)
• EBITDA margin increased to 22% (19%)
• EBIT increased by 44% to MEUR 3.9 (2.7)
• Earnings after tax amounted to MEUR 3.6 (2.3)
• Earnings per share, after tax, from continued operations amounted to EUR 0.08 (0.05)
• First Time Depositors (FTDs) increased by 40% to 63.9 thousand (45.7)
• Revenue increased by 15% to MEUR 52.8 (45.9)
• B2B Revenue increased by 18% to MEUR 26.8 (22.7)
• EBITDA increased by 21% to MEUR 10.4 (8.6)
• EBITDA margin increased to 20% (19)
• EBIT increased by 20% to MEUR 9.6 (8.0)
• Earning after tax amounted to MEUR 9.0 (7.9)
• Earnings per share, after tax, from continued operations amounted to EUR 0.20 (0.19)
• First Time Depositors (FTDs) increased by 31% to 177.7 thousand (135.9)
• On July 11th, Aspire Global was listed for trading on the NASDAQ First North Premier in Stockholm, Sweden. The offering price had been set to SEK 30 per share, corresponding to a value of the company’s shares of SEK 1,323 million after the completion of the offering. The offering was significantly over-subscribed and trading commenced on Tuesday July 11th. On August 3rd Pareto Securities had fully exercised the over-allotment option regarding 1,641,977 existing shares in the company. On September 1st Aspire Global appointed FNCA Sweden AB as the company’s new certified adviser.
• On September 12th, Aspire Global announced the withdrawal from the Australian market following the country’s new gaming legislation.
• Neolotto Ltd, a company owned 38% by Aspire Global, was granted a nationwide license in Germany for charity lotteries. Shareholders in Neolotto decided, on August 30th, to grant NeoLotto a convertible loan of €4,500 thousand for exploring this business potential already in 2017. Aspire Global’s part of the convertible loan amounts to EUR 2,250 thousand.
• On September 27th, Aspire Global entered the newly regulated Portuguese market through a strategic partnership with public company Cofina, one of the largest Media Groups in Portugal. The initiative is in line with the Aspire Global’s long term strategy to focus on strong partnerships in regulated markets.
• On November 20th, Aspire Global’s board of directors approved an investment in a company that will launch Mr. Play, a new fully regulated casino and sports betting brand managed by a select group of industry veterans. Apart from becoming a material owner in the venture with 40% of the shares, Aspire Global is expected to generate revenues from providing the technology and the core operational services on market terms. Based on business milestones the group of shareholders will finance the new company up to the tune of EUR 4 million, of which Aspire Global’s part will be up to EUR 2 million. 

Interim period (Jan-Sep 2017)

Significant events during and after the third quarter

Teleconference

Today, on November 21th 2017, at 10:00 (CET), the company CEO, Tsachi Maimon, and CFO, Motti Gil, will be presenting the report and answering questions at a teleconference (in English), which will be webcasted live through the following link: https://financialhearings.com/event/10406. The meeting, including the Q&A-session, is also available by calling one of the telephone numbers below. The complete interim report and the presentation material is available at Aspireglobal.com.

Sweden: +46 8 566 426 62                       UK: +44 20 3008 9801                       US: +1 855 753 2236

Letter from the CEO, Tsachi Maimon

I am pleased to report yet another quarter of strong growth in both revenue and profit; quarter on quarter as well as year on year. We have also expanded our customer base, complementing original key accounts with a number of new partnerships that have quickly reached sizable levels. As we execute on our strategy; broadening our offering with new verticals (sport) and entering new regulated markets through strong local partnerships, we are well on our way of reaching double digit growth year on year.

Great scalability enabling fast growth through new partnerships

During the third quarter, we signed 4 new partnerships. We also started operating in our sixth regulated market, Portugal, together with our local partner Cofina, a public media company. The online casino is up and running, generating significant streams of new players, soon to be followed by the upcoming launch of our new sportsbook product. The Cofina media house owns several television channels as well as newspapers and magazines (online and print), amongst which the country’s biggest sport magazine, “Record”. We provide them with a great iGaming platform, allowing them to focus on what they do best; marketing attractive content to their target group. Our business model has great scalability in the sense that new partnerships easily generate new revenue streams without major investments or start-up costs from our side.

Maintaining a leading position with an offering at the forefront

Since the end of the summer we have added proprietary Jackpot slot and charity gaming to our offering, launched a new casino app and finalized a successful overhaul of our proprietary brand Karamba. We are currently fine-tuning our sports book product which is to be launched in Q4, both in our most recent market Portugal and through Karamba.com. As we improve or add new verticals, enhancing our B2B offering (the Aspire Global platform), we attract new partners while existing ones are easily able to target a whole new audience. 

Geographic expansion with focus on regulated markets

During the past year, we have been observing the development in Australia as the market conditions were about to change. Once the authorities voted for an amendment of its current gaming legislation, we chose to withdraw from the country in favor of the long-term potential in regulated markets. Going forward, we are thus focusing on obtaining additional gaming licenses in regulated markets; a complex process indeed, but well worth our while as it creates a considerable competitive advantage. As we enter additional regulated markets, we expect to establish new partnerships with well-established media companies leveraging their strong brands through our offering, same as Cofina.

Going forward

We are currently monitoring the development in Portugal and the upcoming launch of Sportsbook, while preparing to enter additional regulated countries as they become accessible. We continue to look actively for acquisition opportunities and new projects, allowing us to migrate popular casinos to our own platform or leverage our strong position in new profitable ways. An exciting example of such initiatives is our investment in Mr. Play in which we have identified an opportunity to team up with industry veterans with a proven track record. We will continue to actively look for other acquisition opportunities and in this context review our financing options, including different sources of debt financing.

For more information, please contact:

Tsachi Maimon, CEO, Tel: +356-79777898 or email: tsachi@aspireglobal.com

Motti Gil, CFO, Tel: +972-73 372 3154 or email: mottigi@aspireglobal.com  

About this information

Aspire global discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication by the contact person above at 08:00 am (CET) on November 21th, 2017.

About Aspire Global

Founded in 2005, Aspire Global offers a comprehensive iGaming solution for operators and white labels, including a complete suite of services for casino and sportsbook, multilingual CRM, payments and risk control, support call center, VIP management, acquisition optimisation and a robust, market-leading platform. Aspire Global also holds licenses in regulated markets including the UK, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Malta. Aspire Global is listed on NASDAQ First North Premier under ASPIRE. Certified Adviser: FNCA Sweden AB

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