Favourable football results and US expansion drive Kambi Q1 growth
Sports betting platform and systems provider Kambi Group has attributed a period of sustained growth to a ‘strong soccer performance’ and continued US expansion.
Publishing its Q1 report for the three month period ended 31 March 2020, Kambi noted a 33% increase in revenues, rising from €21 million in Q1 2019 to €27.9 million. Despite a reduced sports schedule from 12 March, Kambi also reported a 27% year-on-year increase in operator turnover.
EBIT increased from €2.6 million to €6.8 million, and profit after tax grew by 140.7% from €2 million in 2019 to €4.8 million.
The platform and systems provider highlighted that the ‘return of the Champions League also provided favourable trading results, principally the low-scoring Atletico Madrid vs Liverpool and Lyon vs Juventus matches’.
Kambi Group CEO Kristian Nylén commented: “Despite the much lighter sporting calendar during the latter weeks of the first quarter, Kambi posted strong growth numbers. Operator turnover for the period was up 27% while our revenue increased by a third to €27.9m. EBIT was €6.8m, and we ended Q1 with a cash balance of €46.3m, a sum which will help us withstand the worst-case scenario: an extended period without major sports.
“It’s worth highlighting the momentum we had built before the pandemic began to make its presence felt on the sporting calendar. Up to and including 12 March, Kambi’s average daily operator turnover in Q1 was up 47% on the respective period in Q1 2019, and on track to eclipse our record operator turnover of the previous quarter, with it ahead 7% on the comparative period in Q4 2019, despite fewer American football fixtures due to the season’s end.”
During Q1, Kambi also reported continued growth across its US operations, having ‘reached several US-related milestones’ by launching in three further states during the quarter. This was supported by an uptake in activity across US sports.
Nylén continued: “Furthermore, on 9 and 11 March we processed the first legal bets in the states of Illinois and Michigan respectively. This continued our fantastic performance of getting partners to market quickly with a high quality and compliant sports betting service. To illustrate, Kambi is now active in 10 US states, achieving market firsts on eight occasions. In addition, we recently received our licence for the state of Colorado, where we expect to go live soon.”
Source: SBC News
