Imperus posts EBITDA jump after social casino transformation
 Developer will target Latin America in 2016 as part of new growth strategy
Canadian social casino firm Imperus this morning said a change in strategy was behind its 2015 full-year EBITDA of CA$5.3m, a sharp improvement on the $3.6m loss posted the previous year.
The firm said the turnaround was the result of a âcomplete business transformationâ, from a developer of real-money gaming technology at the beginning of the year, to a social casino game publisher and operator.
Full-year revenues for Imperus â the parent company of the Diwip and Akamon brands â reached $24.1m from almost nothing in 2014.
âImperusâ transformation has only just begun,â James Lanthier, group CEO, said. âSince the acquisition of Akamon we have moved to integrate both operating businesses under one management structure in order to realize synergies and more importantly, a common strategic direction.â
Lanthier said the Diwip and Akamon monikers would be shelved in 2016 in favour of a new corporate name to âstreamline the brandâ.
Going forward, the group will target non-US markets, where âcustomer acquisition costs are lower, growth rates are higher, and there is an opportunity to build a market leading business that can grow along with secular trendsâ.
Lanthier added: âWe are continuing to focus our efforts on Latin America, where the interactive games category has the fastest growth rate of any geographic region, but the social casino market is much less well developed.â
For the 2016 financial year, the company offered a new guidance of 18-20% growth, slightly above the projected 16% growth rate of the overall social casino sector.
âWe feel very good about our business and its trajectory,â Lanthier added.
