Gaming Realms H1 revenues double
Revenues soar following an 89% year-on-year rise in marketing costs to promote new and existing real-money products
Gaming Realms has reported a triple-digit rise in H1 revenues, driven by the success of the operator’s proprietary real-money platform and a significant investment in marketing.
The AIM-listed firm this morning 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%.
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 today also announced it had launched a new remote game server to license its games to selected partners in a number of regulated markets.
Earlier this month the operator announced several new marketing agreements to promote a number of its brands, including a partnership with E! Entertainment to launch the first ever TV sponsorship deal for Slingo.