Cherry praises business model as key financials climb

Cherry has cited the success of its business model as the main reason behind year-on-year growth across key financials in the first quarter.

Group revenue in the three months through to March 31 amounted to SEK681m (€63.8m/$76.6m), up 26% on SEK541m in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 131% from SEK83m to SEK192m, with an increased margin of 28%, while profit was also up from SEK36m to SEK89m.

Earnings per share, both before and after dilution for the first quarter, were up from SEK0.24 to SEK0.96.

The results come after Cherry made two acquisitions in the first three months of the year, first Get Lucky through its ComeOn business and later Slottracker.com via its Game Lounge arm.

Anders Holmgren, chief executive of Cherry, said: “The first quarter of 2018 shows that Cherry’s business model yields good results; growth continued with increased profitability, and we see good prospects for 2018 becoming a good year for Cherry’s shareholders.

“The first quarter of 2018 was a good start to the year, and I see good prospects of this year becoming an eventful one.

“There are ongoing efforts within Cherry’s business areas to launch several new products that we believe will create interest among existing customers.

“Equally important are the efforts several of the companies are making in new market segments.

“We are seeing ongoing discussions regarding regulation of the gaming market in different countries, legislation that in various ways affects the gaming companies operating in the industry, as well as customer demand and expectations that are changing faster than ever before.”

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