Mobile drives Gaming Realms’ H1 triple-digit growth

Operator’s proprietary mobile Grizzly platform and marketing expenditure drive 109% revenue rise

Gaming Realms has reported a 109% rise in H1 revenues, driven by the success of the operator’s proprietary real-money mobile platform and a significant investment in marketing.

The AIM-listed firm announced revenues for the six months ended 30 June 2016 had doubled year-on-year to £16.6m, up from £8m in H1 2015, with marketing costs soaring 89%.

Real-money gambling revenue on the Grizzly platform increased by 143% to £10.2m for the period, up from the £4.2m it reported in the same period last year.

And mobile usage grew too, with 84% of depositing players using mobile devices up from 80% in the comparative period last year.

Marketing expenditure was the “key driver” in the 109% rise in revenues, according to Gaming Realms, and also led to a 257% year-on-year increase in average monthly depositing players.

However, the high marketing costs also led to a 24% year-on-year fall in adjusted EBITDA, and a loss of £3m, while operating and administrative expenses were also higher than the corresponding period last year.

The £9.5m in marketing was used to promote the launch of new products such as Britain’s Got Talent games, as well as to invest in the operator’s existing real-money portfolio.

And according to Gaming Realms CEO Patrick Southon, the firm continued to benefit from its proprietary mobile platform which launched its first brand, Spin Genie, two years ago.

“The group has delivered an excellent first half as a result of focusing on our proprietary technology and games and publishing and licensing,” he said.

“We have seen strong growth on our proprietary Grizzly platform, which has been achieved through the development of unique content, investment in player acquisition and improved use of CRM on mobile.

“We continue to see lower player costs per acquisition than the industry average.”

Gaming Realms claims it is currently trading in line with market expectations and expects to be EBITDA positive for 2016.

The operator also announced it had launched a new remote game server to license its games to selected partners in a number of regulated markets.