$NWGI First Quarter 2019 Financial and Business Highlights
Solid Q1 Revenue of $9.3 million, up 7.8%.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $10.4 million, up 12.6%.
Handle of $137.0 million, up 51.3%.
Loss from operations of 1,314,879, compared to income from operations of $457,057.
Net loss of $3.1 million compared to net income of $769,000 in 2018.
Adjusted EBITDA of $(378,000) compared to $1.5 million in 2018.
Web-shop locations in Italy increased by 50% from 1,000 to 1,500 locations.
Agreement with Fleetwood Gaming, Inc. for the exclusive rights to distribute the ELYS sports and virtual betting products at select locations in the state of Montana.
Multi-year agreement with the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Box Elder, Montana to deploy the ELYS sports betting platform at the Northern Winz Casino.
Completed the acquisition of Virtual Generation Limited ("VG"
, a leading developer of virtual gaming software, effective January 30, 2019 for approximately $4.5 million in a combination of cash and stock.
"This was a strong start to 2019 for Newgioco. We quickly established a presence in the rapidly expanding, greenfield U.S. market with two agreements in Montana for our ELYS sports betting platform which is due to commence a free-play pilot location in the very near future," commented Michele (Mike) Ciavarella, Newgioco Chief Executive Officer. "State legislatures in several states - including Montana - are moving rapidly to codify regulations for sports betting, and we are in position to crystallise opportunities as these legislative efforts come to fruition. We have expanded our sales and marketing budget and increased our presence at trade shows to build awareness for our industry leading ELYS sports betting platform, and this has directly led to strong brand recognition and a growing sales pipeline."
"Simultaneously, our sports betting business continues to enjoy robust growth, giving us the available resources to judiciously invest in growing our emerging SaaS business with our mainline focus on the U.S.," added Mr. Ciavarella. "Total handle grew 51%, gross gaming revenue was up 12.6% and total revenue was also up 7.8% on a same period basis last year. We are also expanding our presence in Europe, especially in Italy where we are making progress in our stated goal to diversify revenues with our first revenues from global operations through the Virtual Generation acquisition earned in the first quarter. Web-based handle represented 63% of total handle in the first quarter, up from 51% in the first quarter last year. As a result, we continue to reduce the risk profile of our handle to revenue conversion, albeit with lower margin revenue from poker, lottery and casino products."
"Our 2018 discretionary investment plan is also paying off in Europe quite early in 2019," added Mr. Ciavarella. "The ratio of our investment to return in Italy saw exceptional multiples as reflected in the signing of major operators in Southern and other parts of Italy from established competitors that quickly increased our footprint by 50% from 1,000 to 1,500 web-based locations on a very low capital outlay. Simultaneously, we are continuing to invest strategically in the U.S., which did and will continue to contribute to our general and administrative costs for the foreseeable months. We consider the U.S. market as a significant greenfield opportunity requiring a three to five year investment and stabilization period, we are therefore continuing our discretionary spending to reinforce our presence in the markets we currently serve both inside and outside of Italy. In addition, while individual states enact their rules, and will likely fine tune them through this stabilization period, our rapid ex-Italy global deployments also represent significant growth catalysts for our ELYS platform. Therefore, our ex-Italy, U.S. and global outlook both represent attractive business multipliers over the near-term."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/PR-CO-20190516-910199
Solid Q1 Revenue of $9.3 million, up 7.8%.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $10.4 million, up 12.6%.
Handle of $137.0 million, up 51.3%.
Loss from operations of 1,314,879, compared to income from operations of $457,057.
Net loss of $3.1 million compared to net income of $769,000 in 2018.
Adjusted EBITDA of $(378,000) compared to $1.5 million in 2018.
Web-shop locations in Italy increased by 50% from 1,000 to 1,500 locations.
Agreement with Fleetwood Gaming, Inc. for the exclusive rights to distribute the ELYS sports and virtual betting products at select locations in the state of Montana.
Multi-year agreement with the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Box Elder, Montana to deploy the ELYS sports betting platform at the Northern Winz Casino.
Completed the acquisition of Virtual Generation Limited ("VG"
, a leading developer of virtual gaming software, effective January 30, 2019 for approximately $4.5 million in a combination of cash and stock. "This was a strong start to 2019 for Newgioco. We quickly established a presence in the rapidly expanding, greenfield U.S. market with two agreements in Montana for our ELYS sports betting platform which is due to commence a free-play pilot location in the very near future," commented Michele (Mike) Ciavarella, Newgioco Chief Executive Officer. "State legislatures in several states - including Montana - are moving rapidly to codify regulations for sports betting, and we are in position to crystallise opportunities as these legislative efforts come to fruition. We have expanded our sales and marketing budget and increased our presence at trade shows to build awareness for our industry leading ELYS sports betting platform, and this has directly led to strong brand recognition and a growing sales pipeline."
"Simultaneously, our sports betting business continues to enjoy robust growth, giving us the available resources to judiciously invest in growing our emerging SaaS business with our mainline focus on the U.S.," added Mr. Ciavarella. "Total handle grew 51%, gross gaming revenue was up 12.6% and total revenue was also up 7.8% on a same period basis last year. We are also expanding our presence in Europe, especially in Italy where we are making progress in our stated goal to diversify revenues with our first revenues from global operations through the Virtual Generation acquisition earned in the first quarter. Web-based handle represented 63% of total handle in the first quarter, up from 51% in the first quarter last year. As a result, we continue to reduce the risk profile of our handle to revenue conversion, albeit with lower margin revenue from poker, lottery and casino products."
"Our 2018 discretionary investment plan is also paying off in Europe quite early in 2019," added Mr. Ciavarella. "The ratio of our investment to return in Italy saw exceptional multiples as reflected in the signing of major operators in Southern and other parts of Italy from established competitors that quickly increased our footprint by 50% from 1,000 to 1,500 web-based locations on a very low capital outlay. Simultaneously, we are continuing to invest strategically in the U.S., which did and will continue to contribute to our general and administrative costs for the foreseeable months. We consider the U.S. market as a significant greenfield opportunity requiring a three to five year investment and stabilization period, we are therefore continuing our discretionary spending to reinforce our presence in the markets we currently serve both inside and outside of Italy. In addition, while individual states enact their rules, and will likely fine tune them through this stabilization period, our rapid ex-Italy global deployments also represent significant growth catalysts for our ELYS platform. Therefore, our ex-Italy, U.S. and global outlook both represent attractive business multipliers over the near-term."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/PR-CO-20190516-910199
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