Industry News
Raketech: Interim report Q3 2019
THIRD QUARTER 2019
- Total revenues amounted to EUR 6.0 million (EUR 7.0 million) representing a decrease of 15.1%.
- Organic growth amounted to -17.9% (28.6%).
- Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 34.2% to EUR 2.7 million (EUR 4.1 million), corresponding to a margin of 45.5% (58.7%).
- Adjusted operating profit amounted to EUR 1.5 million (EUR 3.7 million), corresponding to a margin of 25.1% (52.4%).
- Profit for the period decreased by EUR 0.5 million from EUR 1.7 million to EUR 1.2 million.
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to EUR 0.03 (EUR 0.05) representing a decrease of 38.5%.
- NDCs (New Depositing Customers) decreased by 0.2% to 26,782 (26,837).
FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2019
- Revenues increased by 0.7% to EUR 18.1 million (EUR 17.9 million).
- Organic growth amounted to -3.7% (22.6 %).
- Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 8.6% to EUR 9.0 million (EUR 9.9 million), corresponding to a margin of 50.0% (55.1%).
- Adjusted operating profit amounted to EUR 6.2 million (EUR 8.9 million), corresponding to a margin of 34.4% (49.7%).
- Profit for the period amounted to EUR 7.5 million (EUR 2.8 million) representing an increase by 165.9%.
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to EUR 0.20 (EUR 0.10) representing an increase of 100.6%.
- NDCs (New Depositing Customers) increased by 26.4% to 80,364 (63,599).
EVENTS DURING THIRD QUARTER 2019
- Casumba Media Ltd., a Maltese registered media company, was acquired during the quarter for the agreed purchase price of EUR 2.0 million with the possibility of additional earnouts based on certain performance measures. Casumba offers an extensive amount of affiliate websites in the Japanese market and through the acquisition Raketech gets an immediate footprint in Japan as an emerging market in iGaming.
- During the quarter Raketech has repurchased in total 108,000 own shares. The share repurchases have been carried out within the buy-back programme authorised at the annual general meeting held on 8 May 2019.
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS AFTER THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER
- On 1 October it was announced that the current Chief Financial Officer, Andreas Kovacs, has been appointed as Director of Business Development, a new role, and Måns Svalborn will join as CFO. Måns will officially take over as CFO on 1st December 2019.
CEO MICHAEL HOLMBERG COMMENTS ON THE QUARTER
“In the third quarter, both revenues and the number of NDCs increased compared to the previous quarter, despite a continued challenge in the Swedish gaming market. We have a positive underlying revenue development with an increased revenue share, which drives recurring revenues – however, this will come into full effect during the upcoming years. During the quarter, we continued to focus on global expansion, with concrete progress in both Japan and Germany. All in all, this gives us confidence for the future, even though the result for the third quarter is unsatisfactory.
Our products continue to generate high traffic levels for our partners. The underlying NDC development is on par with the previous year, despite changing conditions in the Swedish market. The NDC growth of 7 percent compared to the second quarter shows strength in customer acquisition and traffic. I am glad that we can show a strong operating cash flow for the quarter of EUR 3.2 million, which is 41 percent higher than the corresponding period last year.
For the first time ever, Raketech’s operations outside of the Nordic region accounted for 10 percent of the revenue mix, with contributions from Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Japan amongst others. This is thanks to the ongoing efforts to expand geographically.
In brief, the expansion strategy means that we will operate in at least three continents, and each continent will represent at least 10% of the company’s revenues over time. This is a clear strategy that we are executing. I am certain that we will be successful in building a global company, with products in sports and gaming that serves operators, media companies and other businesses with a focus on responsible and user-focused services.”
PRESENTATION FOR INVESTORS, ANALYSTS AND THE MEDIA
CEO Michael Holmberg and CFO Andreas Kovacs will present the report and answer questions in an audiocast at 9.00 a.m. CET on 21 November. The presentation will be held in English and can be followed online via https://tv.streamfabriken.com/raketech-q3-2019. To participate by phone, please dial +46 8 5664 2703 (SE), +44 3333 009 263 (UK)
REPORT LINK
The report is attached to this press release and also available at https://raketech.com/investor/
About Raketech Group
Raketech is a leading online affiliate and content marketing company, specialised in comparison services for sports and gaming, online guides, communities and social media products in primarily the Nordic region and the UK. Through some 20 flagship brands, Raketech guides sports and gaming enthusiasts to the best possible services, while also delivering high-quality traffic and leads to its partners. Raketech grows both organically and via acquisitions and operates its business in accordance with a clear framework for responsible affiliate marketing services. The company’s shares are listed in Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market with ticker RAKE. Erik Penser Bank AB is the company’s Certified Adviser ([email protected] / +46 8 463 83 00). For more information, visit www.raketech.com.
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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