NetEnt H1 success driven by mobile and UK growth

NetEnt has announced double digit growth in revenues and operating profit for the first half of 2017.

In a trading update, the games developer said revenues for the first six months increased by 15% to SEK805m (€85m/$95m).

Operating profit amounted to SEK281m, an increase of 12%, while profit after tax was up 10% to SEK258m.

Mobile gaming continues to expand and accounted for more than half of NetEnt’s revenues in June.

The period to the end of June saw 21 new customer agreements signed and 14 new customers’ casinos were launched.

Other highlights included the obtaining of a supplier licence in British Columbia, Canada, and the launch of games on the regulated market in Serbia.

Per Eriksson, president and chief executive, said in a statement: “The future outlook remains bright and for the remainder of 2017, we see conditions for continued solid growth supported by new games, increasing market shares in the UK, mobile growth, many new customers to launch and our expansion in North America.”

The UK and Italy contributed the most to growth in the quarter from April to June.

Eriksson said of the UK, the company’s largest market, that “we continue to see great potential for market share gains in the coming years as we are working even harder to expand in this market”.

However, revenue growth in Sweden was “relatively slower”, which can be explained by high market share and the maturity of the market.

Eriksson added: “We continue to hire more employees and develop our platform.

“We strengthen the organisation to increase our output capacity, enter more regulated markets and integrate a large number of new customers.

“With this in mind, we foresee an ongoing need to invest during the rest of 2017. We do this to enable continued solid growth with increasing economies of scale for NetEnt going forward.”

Related article: NetEnt goes live in Serbia