Evolution sees 48% increase in operating revenues in Q3

Evolution released on Thursday its Interim Report for January-September 2020.

Revenue amounted to EUR 140 million, an increase of 48 percent compared with the third quarter of 2019. EBITDA amounted to EUR 91 million with a margin of 64.8 percent.

"The past quarter has also been a period of exceptionally high activity operationally within Evolution and after the end of the quarter we are live with our first tables in both Pennsylvania, USA, and Kaunas, Lithuania," said CEO Martin Carlesund. "We are still dealing with the limitations imposed by Covid but we are slowly coming back towards pre-Covid levels in the number of tables."

Highlights from the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2019):

• Operating revenues increased by 48% to EUR 140.0 million (94.7)
• EBITDA increased by 87% to EUR 90.7 million (48.5), corresponding to a margin of 64.8% (51.2)
• Profit for the period amounted to EUR 79.4 million (39.8)
• Earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.44 (0.22)

January-September 2020 (9M 2019):

• Operating revenues increased by 48% to EUR 383.5 million (259.0)
• EBITDA increased by 86% to EUR 235.9 million (127.1), corresponding to a margin of 61.5% (48.9)
• Profit for the period amounted to EUR 204.0 million (102.9)
• Earnings per share amounted to EUR 1.12 (0.57) 

"Our new game show style game - Crazy Time – was launched globally on July 1st and has been a great success. Players enjoy the groundbreaking game format and the possibility of big wins. It is our most successful game launch to date. Instant Roulette was also launched during the quarter and coming up in Q4 is the launch of Craps. We continue to build our portfolio of unique innovative games both within traditional table games as well as game shows," Carlesund continued. 

"Germany is on its way to be the next regulated market in Europe. Licenses for Online Casino, which includes Live Casino, and Online Slots, are planned to be issued from July 2021. Until then a transition will take place where some operators will not offer Live Casino. Revenue related to German players make up 5-10% of our current total revenues. While we expect a negative effect on our German revenue during the transition the effect on the Evolution group as a whole is limited. Long-term we view the move towards regulation in Germany as positive for Evolution.

"We continue to stay focused on further strengthening our North American footprint and it makes me proud to say that we now are live in Pennsylvania. Also important for the North America expansion is that we, during the third quarter, have signed several new customers for the US market and more are to come. Regardless of the timing for regulation in additional states we know that Evolution is well positioned and that the US market is a long-term project with very high potential.

"We experience high demand for our games all over the world and thus we continue to invest in additional studio capacity to meet the total demand. During this week we also launched the new medium-sized Lithuanian studio. It has been our fastest and most efficient build so far. Together with the latest expansion in Tbilisi, the new build in Pennsylvania, expansion in Malta, expansion in New Jersey, and the coming build in Michigan we look forward to a very hectic expansion in the coming period.

"During the period we have also updated our corporate brand to Evolution. The new branding better reflects the diversity of our operations. In addition to our gaming offerings, we are also active within areas such as software development, technology innovation, and state-of-the-art broadcast studio design.

"With increased studio capacity together with the continuous development of the very best products and services, we are well-positioned to increase our market leadership within Live Casino going forward. During the fourth quarter, we look forward to closing the deal with NetEnt. We see fantastic potential in combining the two companies and continuing to deliver the best playing experiences for players across the globe. As I said at the beginning of this report we have a hectic Q3 behind us and now we look forward to an even more hectic Q4. We will continue to work relentlessly on all fronts to continue to better every single day," Carlesund concluded.