New market launches push Kambi revenue up 19% in Q1

Kambi’s chief executive officer Kristian Nylén said that the quarter benefitted from Kambi launching in North and South America, as well as a return to a complete sports calendar following the Covid-19 pandemic. Kambi completed 20 partner launches during the quarter, all of which occurred in the Americas.

“The first quarter was another busy period for Kambi including new market launches in the Americas, the expansion of Kambi’s partner network and a full sporting calendar,” said Nylén. “These events helped drive a 12% year-on-year increase in operator turnover and a 19% rise in revenue to €44m.”

Nylén was particularly positive about Kambi’s progress in Latin America. During the quarter, the operator agreed to extend its partnership with Corredor Empresarial SA, which operates BetPlay in Colombia.

“Latin America is a region of significant long-term potential for Kambi and will become increasingly
integral as we look to extend our lead as the number one supplier across the Americas,” he continued.

“Kambi already has a strong foothold in some of the region’s most established sports betting markets such as Colombia and Argentina and recent public announcements from the Brazilian government show positive signs that regulation of sports betting in Brazil is edging nearer in what is projected to become one of the world’s largest regulated markets.”

First quarter results

Turning to costs, the highest during the quarter related to staff expenses, which totalled at €16.9m. This was 22.1% higher than Q1 2022.

Data supplier costs rose by 19.5% to €4.8m, while exchange expenses fell from €736,000 to a loss of €524,000 for the quarter.

Other operating expenses hit €8.9m for the year, a rise of 51.3%. In total, the operating expenses came to €31.2m, up by 35.2%.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter totalled at €12.8m, down from €13.7m year-on-year.

Amortisation on capitalised development costs came to €5.4m, while depreciation costs totalled at €1.6m. Meanwhile, amortisation on acquired intangibles hit €1.2m.

Following these additional costs, the operating profit was €4.5m, a dip of 38.3% yearly. Following investment income at €36,000, along with finance costs at €190,000, the pre-tax profit hit €4.3m – a year-on-year loss of 38%.

After considering income tax at €1m, the total profit for the quarter was €3.2m. This was down by 39.6% from Q1 2022.

In January Kambi announced that it had projected its earnings target to hit €150m by 2027.