Through the acquisition Aspire Global expects to “control yet another crucial part” of the iGaming vertical, looking into creating synergies, broadening the game portfolio and providing a channel to distribute and sell propriety games outside Aspire Global’s partner network.

Pariplay has hundreds of proprietary game titles complemented by more than 2,000 games from leading third-party providers on its B2B platform. The game portfolio is certified for several regulated markets in Europe, including Denmark which will be launching shortly. Moreover, Pariplay has cleared an iGaming certification for New Jersey, which Aspire Global is expecting to leverage.

Aspire Global says the acquisition of Pariplay strengthens B2B-business through external game sales — accelerating growth, creating synergies and saving costs with an expected positive effect on overall EBITDA as of 2020. For 2019 however, the transaction is not expected to have any material effect on Aspire Global’s financial results.

“We are excited to welcome the Pariplay team to Aspire Global. The acquisition of Pariplay is in line with our M&A strategy focusing on B2B growth and external game sales,” says Tsachi Maimon, CEO at Aspire Global.

The integration of Pariplay grants us control of yet another crucial part of the iGaming value chain – cutting costs, broadening the game portfolio and providing a channel to sell and distribute propriety games outside Aspire Global network. Moreover, Pariplay holds an iGaming license for New Jersey, which could act as the spearhead of our future efforts to enter the US market,” Mr Maimon adds.

The post Aspire Global finalises Pariplay purchase first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Aspire Global’s revenues increased by 32.1%, from €24.7m to €32.8m in Q2 2019, spurring growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) by 7.2%, from €5.7m to €6.1m. The performance of the group was considerably lifted by B2B revenues jumping by 57.5%, from €12.4m to €19.5m, constituting 59.6% of total revenues.

“Our B2B operations have been performing very strongly recently, which is very satisfying because we are bearing the fruits of all the hard work we have done in the last two to three years. Our product development teams have been designing and launching great new features for our partners and we have continued to focus on providing the best CRM [customer relationship management] system in the business so our operators can maximise lifetime values and reduce churn,” Aspire Global CEO Tsachi Maimon tells Business Malta.

Although the CEO could not reveal too much about their plans and expectations for the future — for Aspire being a public company — Mr Maimon believes the trend is clear: “We will strengthen our current portfolio of partners and add new ones to our platform; while enabling them to offer new products and features to their players,” the CEO tells BM.

With such a strong business-to-business (B2B) arm, one would wonder how strong the muscles are on the business-to-customer (B2C) limb. “We believe the way we have managed to combine our B2C work with our B2B activities is one of the reasons we have grown so successfully in recent years. We have a team that is focussed on B2C because like every other strong operator in the market we want Karamba to compete with the biggest names out there,” Mr Maimon breaks it down.

Success around Karamba has enabled Aspire Global to grow and perform well as a company, which the company sees has resulted in a strong showcase for the B2B partners of the firm. “They can see what our platform is capable of and when potential B2B partners come to us, we can show them the quality of our platform and when they sign with us they often finish the conversation by saying they want ‘Karamba-style success’,” according to the CEO.

M&A to fuel further growth

Aspire has recently agreed to acquire 100% of the shares in GMS Entertainment Limited, owner of the B2B group Pariplay, for approximately €13.1m in cash. Pariplay operates a game aggregator platform globally, including their own game studios, providing operators with access to thousands of game titles from leading game producers.

“Our M&A strategy will focus on B2B technology companies that can add volume and can further contribute to Aspire.”

“Pariplay will play a very important and strategic role in Aspire Global’s operations. Strategically, it will enable us to increase our presence across the value chain of the iGaming industry. As for the United States, Pariplay is already licensed to operate in New Jersey. It represents a major advantage over other games aggregators and studios and will act as a spearhead for potential moves Aspire Global might make in the US market in the future,” the CEO says.

When Aspire announced the planned acquisition, the firm tagged it as a “crucial” moment in gaining control of another section in the iGaming value chain. The transaction should be closed during Q3 2019, with a positive effect on the company’s EBITDA as of 2020. For 2019, however, the transaction is not expected to have any material effect on financial results. Nevertheless, Aspire sees the possibility of further mergers and acquisitions activities (M&A).

“Pariplay is the first of a number of acquisitions we have planned as a group. We have been very ambitious and thanks to our successful operations and performance we have cash in the bank that we plan to use. Our M&A strategy will focus on B2B technology companies that can add volume and can further contribute to Aspire. We want to control more steps within the iGaming value chain so that we have more control and can save costs in the process, while also growing revenues through operations outside of our platform,” according to Mr Maimon.

Despite some busy months behind, Aspire Global does not appear to take a rest, in fact, the company is eyeing further expansion. “Our vision is to enable our partners to achieve their full potential. There are many ways of doing this: launching more partners, enabling them to have a larger product offering in store with additional verticals that would allow them to launch into more markets. Our partners are part of our roadmap and future vision and will play a key role in both Aspire Global’s growth and their own,” Mr Maimon concludes.

The post Aspire Global bets on further growth, plans more M&A first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Business leaders have to make sure that they are connected to clients and partners around the clock. Effective communication is the very aspect that differentiates a firm that excels from its mediocre peers. However, this is only possible if the underlying technology supports the aspiring vision of the company.

At GO Business we provide services that can help companies move beyond connectivity and networking. In addition to our services, our dedicated and solution-driven team does its best to assist our partners, let it be equipment installation, the configuration of systems or offering ongoing support. With GO Business, we would like to be enablers, we want to see our partners improve and grow while utilising the technology we provide them with.

As GO Business, we are ready to cater for any need, from the most basic connectivity, through wireless-based technologies, up to maintaining complex fibre-based private networks that demand top-notch privacy and security levels.

Our clients can reach our B2B team any time through our website or the GO Business Centre well-located in Mosta’s PAMA Shopping Village. Our team is ready to provide to individual consultations, to offer customised solutions to any challenges or scenarios our clients might have

Through our ability to adjust to the needs of both smaller firms and large enterprises, accompanied by our market experience, the solutions we deliver are not only designed for today.

Keeping future scalability in mind, liaising with the client about their upcoming plans, we advise them so they will not only strive today but in tomorrow’s challenging world, too.

The managed services we offer at GO Business enable us to run the clients’ infrastructure on their behalf, with very special attention to system administration, data services, disaster recovery, cloud services and infrastructure management, just to mention a few. Managing all these aspects removes the hassle from the client’s daily schedule, and with this very peace of mind, they can focus all their energies on running their businesses to the best of their potential.

Nevertheless, when we talk about 24/7 connectivity and networks arching the whole globe, we must address the elephant in the room; the desperate need for elevated security. One single breach can be devastating for a business. As companies are moving toward digitalisation and through digitising their paper-based knowledge they are creating sensitive and confidential big data, the need for top-notch security has spiked.

Therefore, security is of utmost priority for us at GO Business, as we keep investing considerable resources in the continuous development of our security set up and know-how. Being at the core of our operations, we have won the trust of banks, international IT companies and also government entities, in addition to many other clients.

We do not only keep updating our own systems, but we also educate our clients about vulnerability threats, through consultation and support, as well as via taking precautions to protect all our clients and customers.

The present article has been written by Arthur Azzopardi, Chief Officer, GO Business at GO plc. With a rich background in the ICT and Telecommunications industry, Mr Azzopardi joined GO in 2006 as part of the team responsible for transforming the company. Over the years he went on to work in different senior roles and following the successful turnaround of GO’s wholesale business, he was recently appointed Chief Officer for GO Business.

The post GO Business caters for all your corporate communication needs first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Aspire Global plans broadening its B2B-offering to additional fields within iGaming, which the company says is in line with its long-term growth plan.

“Aspire Global is excited about the opportunity to extend our offering to current and potential partners in the UK. Having a broad license is a competitive advantage enabling us to gain market share in regulated markets, all in line with our long-term growth plan”, said Tsachi Maimon, CEO at Aspire Global.

The post Aspire Global gets UK bingo licence first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

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. 

The post Aspire Global’s Q2 revenues gain 32.1% as B2B fuels growth first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Ellmount Gaming will become a B2B customer of GiG and carry on with operating Highroller using GiG’s platform services, front-end solution and managed services. Nevertheless, Highroller will initially remain as an operator under GiG’s licences with a long-term white label agreement and is planned to be migrated to Ellmount Gaming after its related licences have received regulatory approval.

GiG expects a positive contribution from Highroller under the new owner. Launched in December 2017, Highroller has been a proprietary brand of GiG. In the first six months of 2019, Highroller had revenues of €1.4 million with an EBITDA of -€0.2 million.

Divesting the brand, GiG says, is part of its strategy to increase brand equity for Rizk.Com in the casino category in select markets, in order to improve earnings quality and margins, through increased customer engagement and loyalty, the press statement says. Following the divestment, GiG will operate with four brands: Rizk, Guts, Kaboo and Thrills.

GiG notes that the Rizk brand is the best-performing one, representing 71% of total B2C revenues with a year-on-year growth of 34% (Q1 2019). The second-largest brand is Guts, which will be further developed as sports betting brand, GiG adds.

“The sale of Highroller is a confirmation of our discipline and focus as we are growing Rizk.Com to become a Tier 1 casino operator in select markets. Through this agreement, we gain increased cash flow, a strong B2B partner and Highroller will get the marketing muscle and focus it deserves,” GiG CEO Robin Reed says.

“The brand was launched only two years ago and with this sale, it has returned three-digit ROI for GiG. I am looking forward to seeing the brand prosper in the hands of very capable owners, empowered by our full suite of products and services,” the CEO adds.

The post GiG to sell B2C brand Highroller for €7m first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.