Aspire Global’s Q2 revenues gain 32.1% as B2B fuels growth

(source: Unsplash/Andrew Neel)

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 August, 2019 at 12:38 pm by Christian Keszthelyi

Aspire Global saw its revenues increasing by 32.1%, from €24.7m to €32.8m in Q2 2019, according to a press release sent to Business Malta. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were up by 7.2%, from €5.7m to €6.1m while B2B revenues jumped by 57.5%, from €12.4m to €19.5m, constituting 59.6% of total revenues.

EBITDA for B2B increased by 63%, from €2.5m to €4.1m, constituting 67.7% of the total, while the EBITDA margin went down to 18.5% compared to 22.8%, previously.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to €5.1m, showing a slight change from the previous €5.2m and earnings after taxes dropped to €4.2m from €5.3m.

Earnings per share after tax dropped to €0.09 from the base period’s €0.11, while the number of first-time depositors (FTDs) increased by 23.6% to €99,900, compared to the previous €80.800.

“B2B continued to boost overall company growth for the second quarter to more than 30% compared to [the same quarter in] 2018. During the second quarter, we announced a significant transaction and entered several exciting partnerships [e.g. with Vipps and NEG], followed by major launches over the past weeks,” said Tsachi Maimon, CEO of Aspire Global.

“Revenues for the past 12 months are now approaching €130m with an EBITDA amounting to €25m. The acquisition of Pariplay group will accelerate growth additionally and strengthen our B2B arm through external game sales, in line with our M&A [mergers and acquisitions] strategy,” Mr Maimon added. 

Strong performance in H1, too

The revenues increased by 53.1% to €66.6m, compared to the €43.1m of the same period of the previous year. B2B revenues went up by 76.5% to €39m, constituting 59.1% of total revenues, in comparison with the previous €22.1m.

Moreover, EBITDA increased by 44% to €12.1m (previously €8.5m) while EBITDA for B2B increased by 91% to €8.3m, constituting 68.2% of total EBITDA, from the base periods’ €4.3m.

The EBITDA margin, which was 19.6%, went down to 18.4% and the EBIT increased to €10.3m from the previous €7.6m.  

Earnings after tax grew from €7.5m to €9.1m while earnings per share after tax increased to €0.18 from base periods’ €0.15m and FTDs grew to €219,100 (46%) from €150,100. 

Closing busy H1

Board members were re-elected during the annual general meeting (AGM) 2019 held on 14 May. The board members — Aharon Aran, Carl Klingberg (Chairman), Fredrik Burvall, Tsachi Maimon and Barak Matalon — will stay in place until the AGM 2020, with the aim of resolving a distribution of around SEK1.25 (approximately €0.12) per share.

Furthermore, the Swedish administrative court extended Aspire Global’s Swedish iGaming to 2021 on 26 July

Aspire Global welcomed the proposed acquisition of the leading game aggregator platform Pariplay for approximately €13.1m in cash on 28 June, in order to accelerate the growth of its B2B arm. The group notes that transaction is to be closed during the third quarter with a positive effect on the company’s EBITDA for 2020.

“In July, we announced the upcoming acquisition of B2B company Pariplay for €13.1 million, the exciting and strategically important outcome of our M&A strategy aiming at accelerating B2B growth through external game sales. Integrating Pariplay grants us control of yet another crucial part of the iGaming value chain. Moreover, Pariplay holds an iGaming license for New Jersey, which could act as the spearhead of our future efforts to enter the US market. We are looking forward to finalising the deal and we expect to consolidate the group in our financials during the third quarter,” said Mr Maimon. 

“We are currently launching additional initiatives within our long-term sustainability work, with a focus on four key areas: responsible gaming, corporate governance, compliance and reporting. A sustainability committee was recently implemented to set the strategy, oversee the process and support various functions. We will be implementing a number of initiatives over the coming months and the first separate sustainability report will be produced in 2020, based on GRI [Global Reporting Initiative],” Mr Maimon added. 

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