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NetEnt: Year-end report 2019 and quarterly report October – December 2019

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NetEnt: Year-end report 2019 and quarterly report
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Quote from Therese Hillman, Group CEO

“Since December, we have seen all-time highs in the number of players for our Live Casino, which supports our belief in growing revenues from this segment. Since the acquisition, Red Tiger has exceeded our expectations and now forms a vital part of our ongoing improvement efforts within the NetEnt Group. We see good conditions for NetEnt to deliver growth in 2020, supported by our combined game portfolio and Live Casino.”

Fourth quarter 2019

  • Revenues for the fourth quarter amounted to 512 (465) SEKm
  • EBITDA of 261 (204) SEKm, corresponding to a margin of 51.0 (43.9)%
  • EBIT of 161 (146) SEKm, corresponding to a margin of 31.4 (31.4)%
  • Earnings after tax of 113 (137) SEKm. Earnings per share of SEK 0.47 (0.57) before and after dilution
  • Red Tiger contributed 96 SEKm to revenues and 70 SEKm to EBITDA

Full year 2019

  • Revenues for the full year amounted to 1,793 (1,782) SEKm
  • EBITDA of 855 (816) SEKm, corresponding to a margin of 47.7 (45.8)%
  • EBIT of 529 (601) SEKm, a margin of 29.5 (33.7)%
  • Earnings after tax of 429 (577) SEKm. Earnings per share of SEK 1.79 (2.40) before and after dilution
  • The results include SEK 59 million of acquisition-related transaction costs and amortization, and SEK 29 million of acquisition-related financing costs
  • Red Tiger was consolidated in September and contributed 126 SEKm to revenues and 93 SEKm to EBITDA
  • Proposed ordinary cash return to shareholders of SEK 1.00 (2.25) per share

Important events in the fourth quarter

  • NetEnt released 13 (6) slot games, of which Ozzy Osbourne was the most successful
  • Red Tiger released 9 (6) slot games, of which Dynamite Riches was the most successful
  • The platform service NetEnt Connect was introduced in December, with Red Tiger as first supplier
  • Within Live Casino, a new Auto-Roulette studio was launched

Growth through acquisition

Revenues for the last quarter of the year increased by 10.0 percent to the highest level ever, SEK 512 million (465 SEKm), of which SEK 96 million came from Red Tiger, which was acquired in September. Pro forma(1) in euro terms, our total revenues including Red Tiger decreased by 4.8 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2018. Growth was held back by continued weakness in mainly Sweden and Norway, while our revenues in the US continued to grow significantly. During the period January 1 to February 10, 2020, total gamewin proforma(1) in euro terms for the NetEnt Group including Red Tiger increased by 4.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Operating income and cash flow in the fourth quarter

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK 261 (204) million in the quarter, of which SEK 70 million was contributed by Red Tiger. The EBITDA margin was 51.0 (43.9) percent. Red Tiger was acquired with the objective to create shareholder value through increased growth and profitability for the new group. The transaction was enabled by NetEnt’s strong balance sheet, which went from a net cash to net debt position, and our long-term goal is to deliver enhanced shareholder returns with a balanced capital structure. Hence, the proposed cash return to shareholders for 2019 is SEK 1.00 (2.25) per share, which supports the company’s cash flow generation and allows for debt to be reduced. This payout level is in line with the company’s dividend policy.

High level of activity and deeper integration with Red Tiger

We released more games than ever in the fourth quarter – 13 (6) from NetEnt and 9 (6) from Red Tiger – and continued to sign deals with and launch customers at a high pace. In addition, the quarter was marked by deepening integration with Red Tiger to realize both revenue- and cost synergies. Red Tiger adds complementary competence to the NetEnt group and we are running a number of common projects at full speed to deliver a significantly enhanced customer offering and player experience. Our first combined game with jackpot mechanics, Piggy Riches, was released in January and has so far been the best release ever for Red Tiger. During 2020, we will be releasing several new jointly developed games. In December, we launched our content aggregation service, NetEnt Connect, with Red Tiger as the first supplier. In 2019, we reduced the number of employees at NetEnt (excluding Red Tiger) while at the same time we stepped up our game production and efforts to develop our Live Casino offering. We continue to focus on cost control and efficiency throughout the NetEnt Group and the integration of Red Tiger forms a vital part of this process.

All-time high in player numbers for Live Casino

We continue according to plan to improve our product and organization within Live Casino, and in December we launched a new Auto-Roulette studio. Feedback on the product enhancements made during 2019 has generally been positive and since December, we have seen all-time highs in player numbers for our Live Casino. We are now expanding the studio in Malta and will soon be offering physical tables to our customers for the first time, as an alternative to our tables with blue screen technology, which should contribute to increased revenues from Live Casino in 2020.

Future outlook

We recently unveiled a number of product news at the ICE exhibition in London, such as a new jackpot concept called Starburst Power Pots, as well as branded games in collaboration with Gordon Ramsay, Street Fighter and Fashion TV – again showing our commitment to creating a world-class player experience.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to our employees, customers and shareholders for their support during 2019. Backed by our ongoing focus on efficiency and the acquisition of Red Tiger, we are entering the new year in a stronger position. Our global distribution and two strong brands give us the right basis to increase our market shares in online casino. We see good conditions for NetEnt to deliver growth in 2020, supported by our combined game portfolio and Live Casino.

(1) Comparable figures from the previous year include Red Tiger.

 

About NetEnt:

NetEnt AB (publ) is a global gaming company, providing premium gaming solutions to the world’s most successful online casino operators. In addition to the company’s NetEnt brand, our portfolio also includes Red Tiger Gaming. Since our start in 1996, we have been a true pioneer in driving the market with innovative games powered by a cutting-edge platform. NetEnt is committed to creating the future of gaming, is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (NET–B) and employs around 1 100 people in Malta, Stockholm, Sofia, Kiev, Krakow, Gothenburg, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, London and New Jersey. For more information, please visit www.netent.com.

Industry News

Playtech Live Launches Exclusive Bespoke Game with Kaizen Gaming

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Playtech Live Launches Exclusive Bespoke Game with Kaizen Gaming
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Playtech announced the launch of a new bespoke game, Pig Champions, developed exclusively for Kaizen Gaming, one of the biggest GameTech companies in the world. This launch marks the first Live Casino bespoke title for the leading sports betting & gaming operator and strengthens the strategic partnership between the two companies.

The game, designed to appeal to all audience types and player types across all markets, is a sporty animated universe in a Money Wheel Game show format, where 3 Pig Champions characters compete with each other to reach the highest multipliers within 3 exciting Bonus rounds. The studio is located in Playtech’s Romanian facility (PTR), offering a unique, immersive, animated experience made with fresh Unreal engine technology, featuring unique gameplay built from the ground up using advanced real-time animation.

Kevin Kilminster, Chief Product Innovation Officer at Playtech Live: We are delighted to partner with one of the leading sports betting & gaming operators in the world to launch their bespoke Live Game Show, Pig Champions to their extensive player base. After being selected by Kaizen Gaming as the leading developer of bespoke live content, collaborating on Pig Champions has enabled the team to showcase their passion and experience by exploring new innovative ways of bringing live casino games to life that offer a fresh, safe gaming experience for players. Our partnership with Kaizen Gaming continues to evolve and we look forward to our next collaboration in bringing further exciting games to market.

Christos Mavridis, Head of Live Casino of Kaizen Gaming: “Our content offering is some of the most exciting on the market and working with an established partner like Playtech will assist in enhancing our current portfolio even more. Pig Champions stands as evidence of Playtech’s expertise and extensive experience, elevating our live casino offering and emphasising our commitment to creating top-quality innovative game experiences for our players.

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Industry News

Amusnet Ranks Among Italy’s Top Casino Providers

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Amusnet Italy is the fourth-best casino provider in the country for June 2024, according to iGaming Tracker. The company has made a significant leap in the rankings, advancing three positions to secure the fourth spot. The achievement is underscored by a 1.1% increase in market share, reflecting a substantial gain in visibility and preference among online casino operators and players. This rise reflects Amusnet’s growing influence and effectiveness in the Italian market, demonstrating the company’s leading place among the industry’s top providers.

Several notable accomplishments have bolstered Amusnet Italy’s presence in the country. The company’s commitment to excellence was recognised with the prestigious Gold Award for Casino Content Supplier 2023 from EGR Italy last November. Furthermore, Amusnet has added six new partnerships with operators since January, bringing the total number to over 30, and has maintained a robust portfolio with over 100 certified games. Additionally, Amusnet Italy has released 14 new games since the beginning of the year, with more games planned for release by the end of 2024.

Polina Nedyalkova, Director at Amusnet Italy, said: “We are incredibly proud of our progress and the milestones we have reached. This ranking highlights our leading position in the industry and our dedication to delivering high-quality, engaging gaming experiences to local players. Our advancement to the top position underscores our growing influence and effectiveness in the Italian market, and we look forward to continuing this momentum and bringing even more top-notch games to our audience.”

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Affiliate Industry

Getting Sticky with It: Why Affiliate Traffic Should be About Quality Not Quantity

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Getting Sticky with It: Why Affiliate Traffic Should be About Quality Not Quantity
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In a highly competitive “bonus blitzing” affiliate market, the only real winner is the bonus hunter. These affiliates may be sending traffic through to their partners in volume, but many of their users are just looking to play through a good deal, never to return.

At Slots Temple, we believe the “stack ‘em high, watch ‘em fly” approach to aggressive bonus-driven traffic no longer flies. We wanted to focus on improving the quality of the traffic and that meant doing things differently.

We began life as a site that offered free demo games and slots tournaments, and this helped to build a highly engaged base of players that genuinely loved playing slots. But we wanted to take this to the next level.

When we were awarded a UKGC gambling license in 2022, it meant we could offer cash prizes for our free tournaments. And then the next logical step was real-money tournaments in the UK with juiced-up prize pools, and ultimately real-money slots.

To create better quality traffic, you need to engage with your customers to better understand them and foster loyalty. It helps if you have a unique value proposition to increase the stickiness of your brand and engage audiences more effectively.

Our real money tournaments are a real UVP and are proving wildly popular with our users. The stakes we offer are low. You can play a slots tournament for as little as 1p, and the free-play model remains a large part of what we do – exclusively so outside the UK.

Ultimately, we want to be a safe place for players, which is why offering low stakes games is important. It’s about fostering a player base that trusts us and feels comfortable playing with us.

Yes, we’re blurring the lines between affiliate and operator, but our players know we’re not just chasing profits at the expense of everything else. Ultimately, our players see us primarily as a destination for fun play and prizes, and it’s important that we maintain that balance. If they thought we were simply out to rinse them, we’d lose their trust, and they wouldn’t come back.

Instead, it’s about offering more choice and increasing that stickiness. It also helps us better understand what games our players like to play so that we can offer more personalized recommendations.

And this is how real-money slots tournaments can really increase the quality of traffic. If a player has been playing a certain slot in a real-money tournament, for example, and wants to play at a partner site, we can guarantee that we are referring a player who is already highly engaged with the game and is ready to transition to higher stakes.

Of course, within the framework of real-money tournaments, it’s important to continue diversifying offerings by devising new formats. We have turbo tournaments, risk tournaments — a multitude of formats and price points so everyone can play the way they want to.

Our real-money tournaments are further enhanced by what was always a highly gamified platform. So, we have leaderboards, Xpoints, rewards chests, and challenges.

Continuous challenges, incentives and rewards keep users engaged over the long term. These elements can appeal to users’ competitive nature and desire for achievement, as they play for bragging rights. This enhances social elements and encourages them to engage frequently with the product

Adding fun and playful elements enhances the user experience beyond the tournaments themselves. Regular rewards and recognition prevent burnout and keep users motivated. And engaged and motivated players are more likely to become passionate about the brand.

Creating a player base that produces true value to your affiliate partners requires a number of the right ingredients, plus a lot of care and attention. But the affiliate landscape is changing, and affiliates need to get creative to get sticky.

 

Author: Fraser Linkleter, CEO at Slots Temple

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