Interactive
Sweden – Cherry boosts fourth quarter results by 72 per cent
By Phil - 22 February 2016
Swedish casino group Cherry reported fourth quarter revenue up by 72 per cent to SEK 172.5m with online accounting for 74 per cent of the group’s revenue.
Online Gaming grew by 109 per cent and EBITDA amounted to SEK 15.4m whilst Restaurant Casino increased turnover by five per cent and EBITDA amounted to MSEK 4.9. Yggdrasil Gaming grew by 696 per cent and EBITDA amounted to SEK 4.9m. Yggdrasil has been awarded a UK operator licence during the quarter and the first customers are expected to go live by the end of Q1 2016.
For the full year, turnover increased by 56 per cent compared to the previous year and amounted to SEK528.7m.
Fredrik Burvall, CEO of Cherry, said: “Cherry’s Online Gaming business achieved very strong growth of 109 percent and substantially improved earnings for the period. The activity on our gaming sites increased substantially and the number of active players increased by 219 percent compared with Q4 2014. Online Gaming is well positioned today, with a platform that makes it possible to quickly and efficiently add new products and skins. Restaurant Casino continues to deliver solid results. During the fourth quarter, the business delivered stable growth while earnings were in line with Q4 2014.”
In October, Cherry acquired an additional four percent of the shares in the Malta-based company Almor Holding Limited – a leading online casino in German speaking markets. Cherry now owns 75 per cent of Almor.
In December, Cherry acquired 100 percent of the shares in Malta based Moorgate Media Ltd. The company owns affiliate agreements related to the Web Resorts business. Cherry also acquired 100 per cent of the domain, customer database and website Norgespill.com. The acquisitions are expected to increase Online Gaming’s EBITDA by €1.5m per year and the total purchase price amounted to €4.75m.
Cherry is the only private gaming operator to have been invited to participate in the reference group discussing new gaming legislation for the Swedish market. The latest update is that new Swedish gaming legislation is expected to be in place by July 2018.
