GiG hails investment drive as revenue climbs in 2018
Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has reported a 26% year-on-year increase in revenue for 2018, saying it was reaping the benefits of the £16m invested in technology and product development over the year.
Operating revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 amounted to €151.4m, up from €120.4m in 2017.
EBITDA was also up 28% year-on-year to €16.1m. However, when excluding one-off costs incurred during the fourth quarter, this figure stands some €1.8m higher at €18.9m for the full year.
“After investing around €16m into tech and product development in 2018, we have now closed the circle and are offering products and services across all major verticals in the iGaming value chain,” GiG CEO Robin Reed said.
However this increased investment in its offering contributed to the company posting a post-tax loss of €21.0m for the year, largely resulting from depreciation and amortisation of assets, which incurred an additional €20.0m in costs, and impairment charges of €13.7m. All impairment charges were incurred in Q4, as was €5.4m of depreciation and amortisation-related costs, which saw GiG post a Q4 loss of €16.1m for the three-month period.
Looking beyond these costs, Q4 revenue was a record-equalling €39.9m, though this remained flat from Q4 2017, when the record was originally set. This total was up 7% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Q4 revenue was driven by growth within GiG’s B2C segment where revenue hit an all-time high of €25.8m, up 2% on the same period last year. Media revenue also reached a record €8.7m in the quarter, while in contrast, B2B revenue fell 9% year-on-year to €16.4m in Q4.
GiG noted that a further decrease in employee numbers helped cut operating expenses by 8% quarter-on-quarter in the period.
EBITDA in the quarter amounted to €5m, down 36% on €7.9m in Q4 of 2017, but this was impacted by the one-off cost of €1.8m. Excluding this, EBIDTA for Q4 totalled €6.9m.
However, restructuring in the B2C segment during the quarter impacted EBIT with a non-cash impairment of €13.7m, while
“In Q4, we matched our previous all-time-high in revenues and for the full year 2018, we grew revenues and EBITDA with nearly 30% over 2017,” Reed said.
“We have started our expansion into regulated markets with big brand partners, and we have launched our online and retail sports betting platform in the US.”
Last month, GiG made a number of moves to expand its business into new areas, including securing a vendor registration for affiliate activities in the US state of New Jersey.
GiG also confirmed its entrance into the lottery market for the first time after it agreed a long-term partnership with lotto betting start-up MegaLotto.