Stride Gaming H1 revenues down 13% as UK “regulatory headwinds” bite
Bingo operator’s NGR drops from £44.9m to £39m after what CEO Eitan Boyd described as “challenging trading conditions” in the period
Stride Gaming has revealed a 13% year-on-year drop in its net gaming revenue for the six months ended 28 February 2019, a drop the online bingo operator blamed on UK “regulatory headwinds”.
The London-listed operator, which is currently negotiating a sale of the business to Rank Group, today reported revenues of £39m for the six-month period, down from the £44.9m reported in the same period last year.
Revenue derived from the company’s in-house platform decreased 9% year-on-year to £27m and revenue from its non-proprietary platform decreased 24% to £11.5m, which Stride said reflected its strategy to move players onto the higher-margin proprietary platform.
Deposits were down 8% to £73m, although yield per player increased 4% to £147m.
“The Group has delivered a resilient performance in the first half of the year despite challenging trading conditions, reflecting the strength of our proprietary technology, as well as the skill and commitment of our team,” Eitan Boyd, CEO of Stride Gaming, said.
Adjusted EBITDA declined double-digits in the period, down 23% year-on-year to £6.2m, while adjusted net earnings fell 29.3% to £5.2m.
“Weak trading was largely blamed upon ‘regulatory headwinds’, though these have typically impacted VIPs whereas Stride’s yield per player increased by 4% on a 23% decrease in active customers,” analyst firm Regulus Partners commented.
“In our view, this is probably largely due to a £1.9m (-17%) cut in marketing and improved efficiencies – i.e. cutting low quality, low margin (and also probably bonus-driven) revenue for operational rather than regulatory reasons.”