Acquisitions boost Acroud revenue and profit in Q3

The business noted that the sharp rise in revenue was due to a number of new businesses that it acquired in the past year. Acroud acquired Power Media Group in January for €4.8m, which allowed it to offer Software as a Service (SaaS) as part of its capabilities. Acroud also acquired affiliate business TheGamblingCabin in April, in a deal worth SEK47.3m (£4.1m/€4.7m/$5.6m).
The company recorded organic growth of 0.3% this quarter, meaning that without the acquisitions, the revenue would have grown by just 0.3%.

“I am happy to see that we continue to increase sales quarter-on-quarter reaching €6.4m in the third quarter,” said Robert Andersson, CEO of Acroud.

“I am very positive too that we will see solid organic growth in our core affiliate business, where we operate with high margins, as well as restarting our growth in the US going forward during 2022.”

When it broke down its revenue by segment, Acroud compared the 2021 results of each segment to the combined 2020 results of Acroud and the businesses it acquired.

Revenue from Acroud’s SaaS business made up €3.7m of the total, up by 15.2% year-on-year.

Acroud’s igaming affiliation segment, meanwhile, contributed €2.7m, up 14.0%. This meant that revenue from direct operations came to €6.4m.

Capitalised work for its own accounts added €334,000 to the total revenue, up 27.4% compared to Q3 2020. Other operating income also added to the total, generating €31,000 – an increase of 47.6% – to bring total revenue when including these other sources to €6.7m.

However, external expenses totalled €4.5m, a rise of 443.3% year-on-year, again due to the acquisitions. In addition, personnel expenses came to €1.0m, up 16.7%.

This brought the total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to €1.2m, up 30.9% year-on-year.

After considering depreciation and amortisation expenses of €520,000, the total operating profit for the quarter came to €738,000, which was a decrease of 7.9% year-on-year.

Other financial income added €111,000 to the total. However, interest at €633,000 took the total profit before tax to €216,000. This was a decrease of €128,000 from last year.

After considering taxes, which rose to €377,000 – a major difference from the €47,000 tax benefit Acroud received in 2020 – the total Q3 profit came to €593,000, up by 81.3% from the previous year’s third quarter.

Looking ahead, Andersson provided an outlook on the Dutch igaming market, which opened on 1 October this year.

“The Dutch market has previously been an important market for Acroud with strong presence and local knowledge,” said Andersson.

“I believe what has caught people’s attention is how big the market seems to be, considering the information released by many operators in conjunction with the regulation coming into force. For me this shows the power of the Dutch market.”

Andersson also commented on the 10 operators that received a licence from Dutch gaming regulator de Kansspelautoriteit. He said that the opening of a new market was naturally a major opportunity for an affiliate business, even despite a low number of licensees.

“At first only 10 operators have been granted a licence with the second and major batch of new operators estimated to be announced in the spring. The opening has been slower than expected, since there are so few licence-holders to begin with but the best way to describe the long term future is a ‘land grab’, which puts affiliates, and Acroud in particular, in a favourable position.”