Interactive

Sweden – Evolution produces another spectacular quarter

By Phil - 25 October 2017

Live dealer pioneer Evolution Gaming has reported another superb quarter in the third quarter of the year with operating revenues increasing by 56 per cent to €45.7m (29.2) and EBITDA increasing by 103 per cent to €21.8m.

This gave a margin of 47.7 per cent, the highest margin ever for a single quarter.

Profit for the period amounted to €16.8m, up from €7.4m. For the year so far from January to September, operating revenues increased by 57 per cent to €127.7m whilst EBITDA increased by 83 per cent to €58m.

Martin Carlesund, Evolution’s CEO, said: “We have seen continued high growth in existing studios, as several of our customers are extending their dedicated environments. This expansion intensified during the latter part of the quarter, which meant that the cost increase was somewhat lower than expected for the full period. By the end of the year, we expect to have about 400 tables in operation at all of our studios, making Evolution Gaming Europe’s largest casino by a good margin in terms of the number of tables.”

During the quarter, a generally high level of growth was noted in all of Evolution’s products.
Mr. Carlesund added: “We are focusing heavily on meeting this growth, which is best expressed by the investments in our upcoming studios in Georgia and Canada. Work is continuing as planned and we expect to open the studio in Canada in early 2018, followed by Georgia during the second quarter. Combined, they entail a significant expansion of Evolution’s delivery capacity – with the new studio in Tbilisi as a primary hub, we will have prepared the company for continued expansion for 2-3 years. At the same time, the studio in Canada marks our first land-based establishment in a market outside Europe.”
Dream Catcher, the latest addition to the game portfolio, continues to gain ground as a popular new game format for a target audience that has not traditionally played Live Casino. “We are very pleased with how this has been received and, as an additional achievement, the game was recently named as Digital Product of the Year at the G2E Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Dream Catcher certainly has delivered beyond our expectations,” he added.

Another product that continues to attract interest is Dual Play Roulette, which is offered to land-based casinos seeking to expand their brands digitally. During and after the quarter, Evolution launched new Dual Play tables at Genting’s Resorts World in Birmingham and at the popular London casino, The Vic, for Rank Group.

There was also a deal with Bulgaria’s largest regulated operator National Lottery AD, signed shortly after the end of the quarter. The operator will launch a complete Live Casino service later this year.
As announced in a press release, the Latvian parliament has decided to introduce, as of next year, a fee for each Live Casino table provided from that country. It is not entirely clear how the decision will be implemented, but it is assessed to not entail any material financial impact for Evolution.

Mr. Carlesund added: “We also have good opportunities to focus growth in new tables to our other studios in the future. We currently perceive a favourable market situation, with good opportunities to continue growing. Next year, the FIFA World Cup will take place, and this has historically entailed a high level of activity among our customers. We continue to work according to our ambition to continually increase our lead on competitors and, with two new studios on the cards, I am convinced that we will progress further along that path.”