- COMPANY RESULTS
Gambling.com Group has announced it achieved record revenue for the quarter, but SEO impacts from Google’s latest core update have lowered financial targets for the rest of 2024.
The affiliate brought in a revenue of $29.2m (£23.1m/€26.9m) for the first three months of the year, which marked a 9% rise year-on-year from 2023’s $26.7m. However, adjusted EBITDA fell by 5% year-on-year down to $10.16m with the margin decreasing from 40% to 35%.
Gross profit was up by 5% to $27m and the company delivered over 107,000 new depositing customers in the period.
Split by region, North America was the affiliate’s biggest earner with $14.82m, a 5% rise year-on-year. Europe, excluding the UK and Ireland, saw the biggest change with an increase of 39% from Q1 2023 with $3.86m.
It was a quarter where Gambling.com Group completed the acquisition of Freebets.com for a figure between $37.5m and $42.5m which is dependent on future revenue performance. The company also launched in North Carolina as the market opened for online sports betting.
The affiliate on the financial side secured a new $50m credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank and repurchased 329,490 shares before its board approved an additional $10m share repurchase programme in May.
Post Google’s March core update that has proved to be problematic for organic search affiliates, Gambling.com Group revised its 2024 financial targets. The company now expects a full-year revenue of $118m to $122m and adjusted EBITDA of $40m to $44m. This was lowered from the initial targets for revenue of $129m to $133m and adjusted EBITDA of $44m to $48m.
“We are off to a great start to the year furthering our confidence in our ability to generate strong Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow growth this year and for years to come,” said Charles Gillespie, CEO and co-founder of Gambling.com Group.
“The investments we have made for years in our proprietary technology, website portfolio, and accretive acquisitions are driving consistent growth.
“As we continue to expand our industry leadership and influence across global online gambling markets and leverage the many growth drivers we have, we see a clear road ahead to generate substantially higher adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.”