British online gaming operator Stride Gaming has released its audited financial results for the twelve months to the end of August showing that it experienced an 18% increase year-on-year in net gaming revenues to just over £89.92 million ($119.39 million).
London-headquartered Stride Gaming is the third largest online bingo operator in the United Kingdom with an over 25% share of the market. It recently revealed that annual adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization had risen by 24% year-on-year to £20.24 million ($26.88 million) while its balance sheet had improved to the tune of over £5 million ($6.64 million) to stand at £26.17 million ($34.76 million).
Established in 2012, Stride Gaming stated that annual real-money net gaming revenues from its in-house proprietary platform swelled by 39% year-on-year to £48.6 million ($64.5 million) with the non-proprietary figure improving by 16% to £33.1 million ($43.9 million). But, takings from the social gaming vertical, which represented 9% of its total revenues, crashed by 37% to £8.1 million ($10.7 million) with the firm declaring that it had now ‘reallocated some marketing resources’ towards this market sector.
Despite its revenue advances, Stride Gaming reported an overall loss before tax for the twelve months of £26.74 million ($35.53 million), which compared to a profit of £194,000 ($257,800) for the previous period, and proclaimed that this was due to its continued investment in ‘our people, products and proprietary technology’.
“[This] has been a year of significant progress for Stride Gaming during which the group has delivered outstanding growth in its core real-money gaming business,” read a statement from Eitan Boyd, Chief Executive Officer for Stride Gaming. “This has been driven by our scale and proprietary platform as well as the highly successful acquisitions of 8Ball, Netboost Media and the Tarco Assets in August of 2016.”
Continuing its acquisition activities, Stride Gaming used its annual financial results to divulge that it had recently spent $3.75 million ($4.98 million) in order to purchase a 51% stake in Indian compatriot Passion Gaming. It further announced that the deal encompasses an option for the remaining portion of the rummy-focused operator with the price contingent on performance.
“We are delighted to announce that we have made a strategic controlling investment in Passion Gaming, [which is] a rummy-focused online gaming company based in India that gives us entry into a rapidly-growing market with enormous potential,” read the statement from Boyd. “The online gaming industry remains fast-growing and dynamic. As an operator with scale, proprietary technology and operational momentum we are confident of delivering further success in the year ahead and continued progress against our growth strategy.”
