Bolt-ons aid Cherry as revenues increase 55%
Operator predicts return to black for Q3 as losses narrow to approximately £600,000 for the first six months of the year
Cherry this morning reported a 55% increase in H1 online revenues to SEK123.8m (£9.5m) as the firm laid out plans for a rapid scaling of its business following a number of key acquisitions.
Revenue for Q2 was up 61% to SEK65.5m (£5m) and the firm reported a 19% year-on-year increase in active players for the six months ended June 2015 to 26,185, while deposits were up 82% to SEK279.9m (£21.4m)
“Our work to improve the gaming experience, to deliver joy of playing and strengthen customer loyalty, now begins to show results,” Fredrik Burvall, Cherry CEO, said.
EBITDA was up 14% but still at negative SEK8m (-£612,000), although the operator said it would have reported a profit if it took out costs associated with the 4.6m acquisition of Germany-facing operator Almor.
The firm also said it expected to report a positive EBITDA during Q3 as the Almor purchase as well as Cherry-owned Game Lounge’s acquisition of affiliate domains and agreements in Finland begin to impact the bottom line.
Cherry said that Almor reported EBITDA of around 1m for H1 and added it would “contribute strongly both in terms of increased growth and increased profits” during H2.
Meanwhile Game Lounge’s Finnish affiliate acquisitions are expected to add 600,000 per year to EBITDA as well as bring in more than 10,000 new depositing customers over the next three years.
The bottom line in Q3 will be further boosted by the launch of Cherry’s SBTech provided sportsbook, Norgesspill, which is expected to be added to more Cherry sites shortly.
Elsewhere Cherry-owned Yggdrasil saw revenues more than double to SEK4.5m (£344,000).