Strong fourth quarter boosts Enlabs’ full-year figures

Yet another record-breaking quarterly performance saw Baltic-facing igaming operator Enlabs end 2019 on a high, with Q4 revenue rising 25.3% year-on-year to €11.2m (£9.5m/$12.3m).

This contributed to total revenue for 2019 climbing 29.4% to €39.6m. Growth for the year was largely driven by Enlab’s B2C igaming operations, which accounted for €36.4m of the full-year total, up 36.3% from 2018. This offset a 20.0% decline in media revenue – from Enlabs' performance marketing arm – to €2.1m, and a 14.8% fall in B2B revenue to €1.1m.

Revenue-related expenses for the year, comprising gaming taxes and cost of services, amounted to €10.9m, while operating expenses – including personnel, marketing and corporate development costs – grew to €17.2m. This left earnings before before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €11.6m, up 25.0% year-on-year.

After depreciation, finance-related costs and income tax, Enlabs’ full-year net profit stood at €9.4m, a 34.7% rise from 2018.

For the fourth quarter, meanwhile, gaming accounted for €10.4m of the €11.2m quarterly total, while media and B2B revenue both saw their contributions drop.

Revenue-related costs climbed to €3.2m, with operating costs growing to €4.8m, which left EBITDA of €3.2m. After finance-related costs and income taxes, net profit for the period amounted to €2.5m.

Enlabs chief executive Robert Andersson said he would “never tire” of saying once again that the business had achieved the best quarter in its history, after a year in which new revenue records were set every three months.

“Key to this growth were our casino products, and it was especially gratifying that Lithuania contributed so strongly to overall growth,” he explained.

During the year regulated markets accounted for 94% of Enlabs’ revenue. It is active in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus, as well as maintaining bases in Malta and Sweden.

However, Andersson added, betting margin for the year had been lower than expected. While he said this was an issue that appeared to have affected operators throughout the industry, this was “no excuse”.

“It is our responsibility to secure the margins, and we will make sure to improve them substantially during the first quarter of 2020,” he said.

Looking ahead, Enlabs is preparing to launch a new brand in the Latvian market, powered by its in-house gaming platform.

“There, we will introduce a whole new concept that is aimed at a significantly different target audience than the Optibet brand,” Andersson said. “In addition, the new brand will be launched on our new platform, which has recently been certified in Latvia.

“Obviously, bringing our new platform to our largest market is an important milestone for the company and a major step towards the goal of consolidating all our products on the platform in future.”