Bragg Gaming posts revenue of $10.4m in maiden Q1 results

Bragg Gaming Group, the Toronto-listed operator and supplier formed through the acquisitions of sports news portal GiveMeSport and igaming software developer Oryx Gaming, has reported revenue of CAD$10.4m (£6.1m/€6.9m/US$7.7m) in its first set of quarterly results.

Revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was up 203% over the comparable period in 2018, with the bulk of revenue coming from Oryx. The supplier contributed $9.2m of the total, and signed 22 new partnership agreements with the likes of Mr Green, Red Tiger, Casumo and Betsson.

Over the reporting period Oryx worked to diversify its customer base, with 49% of revenue now coming from its top five customers, compared to 75% from just two customers in the first three months of 2018.

GiveMeSport, the sports media asset that provides UK and European sports news, results, fixtures and stats, as well as photos and videos, was said to be performing ahead of internal expectations. Bragg restructured improve its cost structure and focus on delivering higher-quality video content to viewers. This has boosted key performance metrics, with Bragg noting a 52% increase in Facebook video views for the year to date, and a 123% increase in Facebook video interactions.

Bragg is leveraging the GiveMeSport business to move into the UK sports betting market, launching a sister sportsbook GiveMeBet last year. It aims to replicate Sky Betting & Gaming's model of using a media brand to develop a strong position in igaming. 

Alongside the restructuring, Bragg enhanced its board of directors in Q1, adding industry veteran and Pala Interactive CEO Jim Ryan, securities lawyer Paul Pathak and its chief financial officer Akshay Kumar to its board. It also changed its reporting currency to Canadian Dollars and shifted its fiscal year to fit the calendar year.

While Bragg only provided selected financial information, it noted that general and administrative expenses declined by $8.7m in Q1, with sales and marketing expenses falling $237,516. This was offset by a $3.6m increase in the cost of revenue, coupled with a $14,492 rise in net financing charges and $59,130 in additional income tax expenses.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the quarter came in at $62,987. However, once stock-based compensation of $1.1m, depreciation charges of $137,248 and amortisation costs of $665,008 were stripped out, it posted an operating loss of $1.9m for the period.
 
“We’re very pleased with our results,” Bragg chief executive Dominic Mansour said. “It’s our first full quarter, and we’ve been focused on building a solid foundation for future growth. We delivered on our initial goals, including closing a number of divisions within the old Breaking Data organisation and completing a substantial restructure of the GiveMeSport (GMS) business. 

“We aggressively cost-managed GMS and pivoted the direction of the sports media site. Bragg was also able to break even at the EBITDA level by quarter-end, the first time in the company’s history and sooner than we expected.”