Marketing boost drives Cherry Q3 revenues up 39%
Stockholm-based operator records online revenues of £12.7m as mobile business also shines
Cherry has reported a 39% rise in Q3 online gaming revenues after the operator benefited from an increase in marketing spend and strong mobile performance.
The firm recorded revenues of SEK 142.8m (£12.7m) during the three-month period, up from SEK 102.6m (£9.1m) last year, as a boost to its marketing spend led to a 47% rise in active customers.
Marketing activities for Cherry’s online gaming division increased from SEK 26.9m (£2.4m) during Q3 2015 to SEK 46.2m (£4.1m) during the same period this year. Marketing was equivalent to 32% of revenues.
Cherry, which recently acquired a 49% stake in ComeOn, also reported that mobile and tablet accounted for 44% of its online gaming gross win, up from 27% in Q3 last year.
The contribution from ComeOn was not included in its online figures but Cherry revealed that its revenues amounted to SEK 263m (£23.4m) and adjusted EBITDA to SEK 78m (£6.9m).
Cheery’s total online EBITDA increased 57% year-on-year to SEK 18.1m (£1.6m).
“Despite our size in terms of staff, we are still an agile and entrepreneurial organisation where flexibility is important,” Cherry’s CEO, Fredrik Burvall (pictured), said.
“We currently believe that management must maintain all focus on integrating the newly acquired businesses and delivering strong growth in profitability.
“Our ambition is to continue to grow faster than the market, and we are well prepared to do this, both through organic growth and via acquisitions.”
Group revenues for Cherry, which has delayed its listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm until H1 2017, increased by 39% year-on-year to SEK 214m (£19.1m).
Elsewhere, the operator’s Yggdrasil Gaming division also reported triple-digit revenue growth of 299% year-on-year after releasing a number of new games with tier-one operator during the quarter.