Gaming Realms’ 2021 trading thus far is operating slightly ahead of expectations, continuing the momentum of the “excellent progress” achieved during the prior year.
The group says that licensing revenue for the first quarter of this year is 60 per cent ahead of the same period in 2020, with the figure reaching £2.1m (2020: £1.3m) it was confirmed.
This comes as the developer and licensor of mobile focused gaming content publishes a trading update for the year ending December 31, 2020, with its revenue performance exceeding prior expectations.
A 66 per cent increase for the year saw revenue reach £11.4m (2019: £6.9m), with its licensing division up 81 per cent to £7.5m (2019: £4.1m) and social publishing increasing 41 per cent to £3.9m (2019: £2.8m).
Adjusted EBITDA before share option and related charges came in at £3.3m compared to a loss of £200,000 in 2019, with the firm’s loss for the year reducing considerably to £1.5m (2019: £5.4m).
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations swung from a loss of £300,000 in 2019 to £2.9m, with its licensing segment generating £3.7m (2019: £1.4m) and social publishing reported as £1.4m (2019: £800,000).
In February, Gaming Realms announced that it anticipated 2020 revenue and adjusted EBITDA to be in the region of $11.2m and £3.1m, respectively, which itself represented a slight increase on the £10.7m and £2.75m expectations communicated in December.
“The group made excellent progress in FY20, producing a maiden adjusted EBITDA profit of £3.3m and increasing revenue by 66 per cent. This underscores the success of the company’s strategy to focus on its core licensing business segment, as well as its social publishing division,” explained Michael Buckley, executive chairman of Gaming Realms.
“By securing 26 new licensing and distribution partners throughout the year, of which many were tier one operators, and adding 10 new games to our hugely popular Slingo portfolio, we successfully increased the number of unique players playing our games by 140 per cent and saw increased international demand for our content.”
Detailing its outlook for the year ahead, Gaming Realms asserts that it will maintain a focus on the three core areas of international expansion, particularly in the US and European regulated markets; adding new distributors, operators and licensors; and further penetration with existing distributors and operators driven by new games.
“The group has made encouraging progress so far in 2021, obtaining a supplier licence in Michigan and expecting to be live imminently,” Buckley continued
“We are committing a lot of resources to growing the US igaming market and expect to obtain a supplier license and go live in Pennsylvania in the first half of the year.
“As a result, we are well prepared to take advantage of the growth of igaming within the US, and have signed several multi-state deals and direct integration agreements with the largest operators, including Rush Street Interactive, DraftKings and BetMGM.
“We have also signed a distribution agreement with GAN for the US and European markets. In January of this year, we had a successful launch in the Italian regulated market and are encouraged by early trading. We have further launches planned in the regulated markets of Denmark, Spain, Canada and Portugal.”
