Increases were recorded in the energy (4.7%), capital goods (3.7%) and consumer goods (0.25) sectors, as compared to the preceding quarter. However, a drop of 0.4% was recorded in the sector of intermediate goods.  

Seasonally-adjusted industrial employment decreased by 0.5%, working hours saw a drop of 0.3% and seasonally-adjusted industrial gross wages and salaries decreased by 0.9%. 

Nevertheless, working-day adjusted industrial turnover grew by 2% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2018. 

Increases were recorded in the energy (8.5%), intermediate goods (2.6%) and capital goods (1.2%) sectors when compared to the same period a year earlier. However, a decrease of 1% was recorded in the consumer goods sector. 

In addition, the year-on-year unadjusted industrial employment reported a drop of 1.2% and working-day adjusted industrial working hours decreased by 2.2%. Working-day adjusted industrial gross wages and salaries saw a growth of 1.3%.

The complete report with charts and figures is available for download at the website of NSO.   

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Total nights spent by outbound tourists increased by 5% to 990,045 nights. The majority of guest nights (55.4%) were spent in rented accommodation establishments.

Total estimated outlay by outbound tourists increased by 11.4% to €131.7m, over the same quarter of the previous year, which equals to circa €833 per trip.

Italy and the United Kingdom remained the most popular destinations, with a joint share of 52% of total trips. 

Figures improve in H1

The number of outbound tourist trips was up by 7.4% to 305,001 in the first half of the year, as compared to the same period a year earlier.

Total nights spent by outbound tourists went up by 2.4% reaching more than 1.8m nights.

Moreover, total estimated outlay by resident tourists increased by 10.4% to €244.6m, compared to the same period in 2018.

The full report with charts and tables is available for download at the website of the NSO.

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During the second quarter, the injuries suffered by three drivers and three passengers proved to be fatal while the number of road traffic fatalities were three less than those recorded during the same quarter in 2018. The total number of road traffic fatalities during the first six months this year amounted to seven.

The majority of the road traffic casualties (62.2%) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (27.1%) and goods-carrying vehicles (5.7%). Road traffic casualties caused by collisions between vehicles were the most common with 74.8%.

The highest road traffic casualty and road traffic accident rates occurred on Thursdays with 66 casualties and 606 accidents. The time bracket during which most road traffic accidents occurred was between 12:00 and 14:59 with 841 cases, followed by the 09:00-11:59 bracket of time with 812 cases. The least number of accidents took place between 03:00 and 05:59 — during the night and early morning — registering 73 accidents. 

The Northern Harbour district registered the largest share of all road traffic accidents with 1,405 cases (36.8%) of all accidents. The highest number of road traffic accidents by locality was registered in Birkirkara with a total of 312. Ħal Qormi and St Paul’s Bay came after with 215 and 178, respectively. 

The full report with charts and tables is available for download from the official website of NSO.  

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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.

The highest number of passengers was recorded in June with 534,433 passengers (33.9% of the total for the quarter). Moreover, the number of vehicles increased by 7.5%, totalling 454,818. 

The number of trips amounted to 6,289, an increase of 8.9% over the same period in 2018. The majority of trips took place again in June, with 36.9% of total trips for the Q2 2019, the NSO figures show. 

Furthermore, during the first six months of this year, passenger traffic originating from Ċirkewwa was busiest on Friday and Saturday, whereas the highest numbers from Mġarr were recorded on Sunday and Saturday.  

The full report with included charts and tables is available for download at the NSO website.

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