Strong US performance propels XLMedia to 21% rise in revenue for 2021
Sports vertical earnings jump 178%, offsetting sharp European casino decline blamed on regulatory changes
XLMedia has pointed towards the continued legalisation of sports betting across the US and its North America arm “outperforming expectations” as the prime reasons why revenue grew by a fifth in 2021.
In line with its February guidance the London-listed affiliate announced revenue of $66.5m (£50.8m) for 2021, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 21% on the $54.8m reported in 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA was up 47% YoY from $12.2m in 2020 to $17.9m in the corresponding period in 2021 while operating profit was up from $123,000 to $3.9m.
The sports vertical, which accounted for 21% of revenue, generated $31.4m, up 178% on 2020, with XLMedia highlighting its growing presence in North America, operating across all 15 states where online sports betting is legal.
The company acquired 102,405 sports betting real money players (RMP), an increase of 125%.
This is in part to two major North American acquisitions announced in 2021: Saturday Football for $23m and Sports Betting Dime for $26m.
European sports also saw a 7% increase in revenue, generating $10m while the affiliate migrated operations from Israel to the UK.
The company’s European casino vertical, which was 58% of 2021 revenue, generated $23.2m, sliding 36.6% YoY with regulatory change over the last 12 months in the region a significant factor in the decline – especially in Finland where revenue was down $3.3m. Casino RMPs fell 52% to 35,247.
On Finland, the company said it anticipates a prolonged period of adjustment to the new regulatory environment.
Discussing the results, Stuart Simms, CEO at XLMedia, said: “We’ve made great progress in North America during 2021 alongside delivering important organisational changes to both rationalise and ring-fence legacy areas of our business.
“We set out to become a significant player in North American Sports – in line with our strategy to pursue high growth, large, regulated markets – we’re now in really good shape, with strong geographical coverage and capability, ready to fully exploit this significant market opportunity.”
XLMedia stated that it had seen a strong start to 2022 with a YoY increase of 574% in North American sports betting.
XLMedia’s share price was up over 7% following the earnings announcement.