Evolution Gaming posts big revenue and profit growth

Evolution Gaming has cited an enhanced increase in its live casino offering and ongoing growth within its mobile business as the reasons behind a year-on-year jump in revenue and profit in 2015.

Full-year operating revenue amounted to €75.2 million ($84 million) in the 12 months through to December 31, which represented an increase of 55% on the €48.5 million achieved in the previous 12 months.

Adjusted operating profit hiked 82% to €25.1 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 76% to €31 million with a margin of 41.3%.

Evolution also noted that adjusted earnings per share for the full year increased by 83% to €0.65, with the board proposing a dividend of €0.32 per share for the 2015 financial year.

The impressive set of full-year results come after a successful fourth quarter for Evolution, during which revenue jumped 62% year-on-year to €22.4 million and profit increased to 6.9 million.

Jens von Bahr, chief executive of Evolution, said: “During the latter part of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, we have seen a significantly increased interest in live casino from land-based casinos.

“The land-based segment is an exciting growth area in the coming years; the market is several times larger than the online gaming market, but with small growth, meaning many of its operators want to capitalise on their strong brands online.

“Mobile growth remains very strong; in the final quarter of the year, 32% of the operators’ gaming revenues generated via the Evolution platform derived from mobile devices.

“In absolute numbers, growth was 33% compared to the third quarter of 2015.”

Von Bahr also confirmed that the Evolution board of directors has opted to apply for the company to list on Nasdaq Stockholm’s main exchange in 2016.

“Given that we want to be able to focus fully on our business and benefit optimally from the strong momentum we are currently experiencing, we will adjust the precise timing to when management considers it most appropriate,” he said.

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