Acquisitions put Cherry back in the black
Operator posts strong Q3 revenue growth as newly-acquired Almor brands make their mark
Cherry this morning reported a 131% increase in online revenues for Q3 as the firm began to integrate the German casino and Finnish affiliate businesses it acquired in the summer.
Online revenues for the three months to 30 September were SEK107.6m (£8.2m), with the firm also returning to the black with an EBITDA of SEK14.5m (£1.1m) compared to a SEK8m (£612,000) loss in Q2.
Cherry’s strong showing was in large part due to its newly acquired bolt ons, Germany-facing online casino operator Almor Holding and a Finnish affiliate business.
Active players more than trebled versus the same period last year to 60,300 while new customers were up to 426,274 compared to 37,219 in Q3 2014.
Marketing spend was up 30% to SEK 27.4m (£2.1m) following an increase in activities on its CherryCasino brand, as well as marketing of the Almor brands and Cherry’s newly-launched SBTech-powered sportsbook.
“Our efforts to improve gaming experience, delivering joy of gaming, and to increase our customer loyalty is beginning to create results,” Fredrik Burvall, Cherry CEO, said.
“Today, online gaming is well positioned, using a well-functioning and flexible platform, where new products can easily be integrated and new skins easily added,” he added.
Burvall also said further synergies are expected when Almor’s brands are migrated to Cherry’s new platform.
Meanwhile, Yggdrasil reported its first positive EBITDA during the period, following a 339% growth in revenues to SEK5.3m (£404,000), helping the firm to EBITDA of SEK1.9m (£145,000).
Burvall said Yggdrasil had applied for a UK licence during the period, and planned to deliver at least 12 games to market each year.