LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GAN plc (“GAN” or the “Group”), a leading B2B supplier of Internet gambling enterprise software-as-a-service solutions to the land-based casino industry, announces its operating and financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. The Company has also made an Investor Presentation with additional information on GAN’s outlook and strategic initiatives available on its website at www.GAN.com.
The full Chairman’s Report, Financial and Operational Review, and Statements are available on GAN’s website at www.GAN.com.
Financial Overview
- Group Net Revenue of £11.3m (H1 2018: £4.6m), an increase of +145%
- Clean EBITDA1 profit of £3.0m (H1 2018: clean EBITDA loss of £0.3m)
- Profit after tax of £0.7m (H1 2018: loss after tax of £3.0m)
- Basic earnings per share of £0.01 (H1 2018: loss per share £0.04)
- Cash and cash equivalents at 30 June 2019 of £9.1m (£5.5m at 31 December 2018)
- United States accounted for 78% of Net Revenue including £3m derived from patent licensing
Dermot Smurfit, CEO of GAN commented:
The first half of 2019 saw rapid growth in revenues driven by real money Internet gambling in the U.S. and the accelerating adoption of Internet sports betting by numerous states. We were pleased to deliver real money Internet gambling across four websites (and counterpart mobile apps), to end users in two U.S. States operated by three clients reliant on our technology Platform for powering their Internet gambling business activities.
We have also substantially improved GAN’s balance sheet as the Group transitioned to positive cashflow from ordinary activities with GBP 9.1M cash as on June 30 2019 and zero debt. The capital available on the balance sheet will be used to selectively grow development resources in Sofia, Bulgaria and Las Vegas, NV to capture substantial incremental revenue opportunities available from Internet gaming and sports betting in other U.S. States expected to regulate internet gambling in the near future.
We have an incredibly positive outlook for the remainder of 2019, as the recent launch of Internet sports betting and casino gaming in Pennsylvania, the Company’s current sales pipeline and existing contracted clients are projected to significantly enhance GAN’s revenue and EBITDA prospects.
Operational Overview and Current Developments
- Successfully licensed GAN’s strategic U.S. patent (“Patent”) to a major U.S. Internet gambling operator and their affiliated land-based U.S. casino group, generating £3m in Net Revenue in the period. This patent governs the linkage of on-property reward cards to their counterpart Internet gambling accounts together with bilateral transmission of reward points between the Internet gambling technology system and the land-based casino management system present in all U.S. casino properties. The Patent was awarded to GAN in September 2014, successfully defended in H1 2017 and has now been licensed for substantial consideration setting a precedent for additional Patent licensing agreements
- Operationally managed GAN’s technology Platform throughout New Jersey’s first legal online betting experience during the U.S. Super Bowl, with all-time record number of active real money Internet gamblers, who used GAN’s technology Platform to bet on both sports and casino gaming on February 4, 2019, following the May 2018 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") to overturn the previous Federal U.S. prohibition on sports betting enshrined with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act 1992 ("PASPA")
- Welcomed the passage of enabling legislation for Internet gambling in six U.S. States during the course of the first six months of 2019 including Rhode Island, Montana, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and Illinois (together representing 9.6% of the U.S. population)
- Entered into an extension of services for Flutter Entertainment plc (formerly PaddyPower Betfair Plc) for the provision of: (i) a multi-year patent license; and (ii) additional services in New Jersey, West Virginia and Pennsylvania together with an option over additional services in additional U.S. States;
- Completed a significant expansion of engineering resources commenced in H2 2018, principally in Sofia, Bulgaria with secondary recruitment in Las Vegas, Nevada in order to meet high demand from existing clients for incremental real money Internet gambling services
- Substantially increased marketing activities via 'GAN Digital', in Tel Aviv, Israel, an in-house marketing agency to provide digital user acquisition & retention services in support of the Overseas Internet Casino, WinStar.com
- Won the prestigious ‘Best B2B Social Slot Company' award at the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming LLC U.S. gaming Industry awards on February 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Entered into an extension of services for Parx Casino in Pennsylvania to launch an Internet gambling service in the neighbouring State of New Jersey
- Cancellation of the Euronext Growth Dublin Ireland listing of GAN plc’s shares on June 19, 2019 in order to simplify the Company’s equity capital markets arrangements in advance of preparing for a U.S. listing on a suitable recognized investment exchange
- Launched Internet gambling for our first Pennsylvanian client, Parx Casino, in the State of Pennsylvania (pop. 12.7M) increasing GAN’s addressable market for real money Internet gambling outside the State of New Jersey (pop. 9M)
Post-period end:
- Launched Internet sports betting in Pennsylvania delivered for Flutter Entertainment plc's FanDuel Group, GAN's second U.S. client to operate Internet sports betting via the GAN Platform in Pennsylvania. The reported success of the Internet sports betting market in the first operational year (August 2018 to July 2019) may result in an increase in the speed of regulation of intra-State Internet gambling going forwards. It is believed that additional U.S. States are now considering the regulation of Internet gambling
- Launched Internet casino gaming in Pennsylvania on July 15, 2019 for Pennsylvania’s largest land-based casino, Parx Casino, in addition to Internet sports betting which commenced in June 2019
- Engaged in additional Patent licensing discussions with major U.S. land-based casino operators, following the successful licensure of the Patent in H1 2019
Notes
- Clean EBITDA is a non GAAP company specific measure and excludes interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payment expenses, certain non-cash transactions and other items which the directors consider to be non-recurring and one time in nature. Where not explicitly mentioned, EBITDA refers to EBITDA from continuing operations.
Note regarding forward-looking statements
This announcement includes forward-looking statements, including statements concerning current expectations about future financial performance and economic and market conditions which GAN believes are reasonable. However, these statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.
Half-Year Results | Conference Call Details
The GAN management team will host a conference call for analysts & institutional investors at 4pm BST (11am EDT / 8am PDT).
Please use the following dial in numbers:
UK Participants: +44 (0) 800 756 3429
US & Canada Participants: +1 877-407-8629
International Participants: +1 201-493-6715
The Half Year Results Press Release and Presentation is available to download from the website, www.GAN.com
Half-Year Results | Webcast
The call will also be simultaneously webcast over the Internet via the following link: https://78449.themediaframe.com/dataconf/productusers/gan/mediaframe/32225/indexl.html
and such link will also be made available in the “Results and Presentations” section of GAN’s website www.GAN.com/investors/results-and-presentations
About GAN Plc
GAN is a leading business-to-business (“B2B”) supplier of internet gambling software-as-a-service solutions (“SaaS”) to the US land-based casino industry. The Company has developed a proprietary internet gambling enterprise software system, GameSTACK™, which it licenses principally to land-based US casino operators as a turnkey technology solution for regulated real-money internet gambling, encompassing internet gaming, internet sports gaming and virtual Simulated Gaming. The Company has also launched digital user acquisition & retention marketing in support of the Internet Casino (https://casino.winstar.com) provided by GAN’s Digital Marketing Agency in Tel Aviv, Israel.
GAN is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:GAN). For more information please visit www.GAN.com.
