Evolution sees revenue up 34% in Q2 amid continued expansion, strong live casino performance

B2B online casino services provider Evolution released Friday the interim report for January-June 2022, showing Q2 operating revenues increased by 34% to EUR 344 million ($350 million) while EBITDA increased by 36.4% to EUR 238.2 million ($242 million) corresponding to a margin of 69.3%. 

Profit for the second quarter period amounted to EUR 200.9 million ($204 million), and earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.94 ($0.95). In terms of the first half of the year, the company's operating revenue increased by 36.2% to EUR 670.7 million ($682 million), and EBITDA rose to EUR 467.9 million ($476 million). Profit for the period amounted to EUR 398.6 million ($408.1 million), up from EUR 276.4 million in H1 2021.

These results come at a moment of continued expansion for the company, including highlights such as the opening of live casino studios in Spain and Armenia as well as the launch of live games in West Virginia; and the recent launch of a new live casino studio in Connecticut. The company also opened a new studio in Madrid, Yerevan, and started construction of an additional one in New Jersey. The company has also unveiled the acquisition of slots creator Nolimit City.

Today we have released our interim report for January – June 2022.

Read the full report here: https://t.co/QuQ6AUeyFc @EvolutionIR

🔞https://t.co/cLfVSye2Q5. Please gamble responsibly. pic.twitter.com/HSwVZUamvB

— Evolution (@Evo_global) July 21, 2022

Martin Carlesund, Evolution's CEO and Co-Founder, spoke about the results for the first half of the year and described the operational delivery in the second quarter of 2022 as “nothing but fantastic." 

Regarding the completion of Nolimit City’s purchase, Carlesund explained that the acquisition is financed with the company’s existing cash flow, as it is “a way to use our financial strength to take yet another step towards becoming the leading provider of casino games in the world." The transaction is expected to be completed in Q3, and includes an upfront consideration of EUR 200 million ($203 million), and earn-outs of up to EUR 140 million ($142 million), payable in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. 

However, despite the significant advances, he stated that he regards the second quarter as “good but not great, and not quite reflecting the success we have had operationally."

“When evaluating our financial performance in the second quarter, I also factor in the exceptional development we had during Q1 and Q2 last year, which affects the year-on-year percentage growth rate in Q2," Carlesund added.

In the second quarter 2022, Live Casino increased by 36.7 percent year-on-year and RNG revenues grew by 6.1 percent year-on-year. “As I have stated earlier when it comes to RNG, our ambition is double-digit growth and I find the result in Q2 as a good step towards that goal. I’m pleased with the development of our RNG business in Q2 2022," the executive said.

In terms of the company’s products, the CEO spoke about the newly released Evolution smart lobby, and stated it is “one example that makes a difference for players every day. In total, 34 of our 88 games planned for this year have been released."

“During the quarter we have released one of our headline games this year - XXXtreme Lightning Roulette – it is a great game which attracts both new and existing players. This roulette game with more and bigger multipliers is a good example of how we can leverage our growing portfolio of brands from both the Live- and RNG-space," Carlesund stated. 

Another new game combining the Live and RNG playing experience is Crazy Coin Flip. This can be seen as the company's first ‘Live Slot’ game, the CEO said. "It definitely strikes a chord with players and is a style of game that we will continue to explore," Carlesund added. New RNG titles in the second quarter include Funkmaster, Dragons Clusterbuster and Space Wars2.

The company also perceived larger trends maintained with the demand for online casinos continuing to increase globally in terms of development by region. However, both Asia and other regions, while growing "nicely," are at a marginally lower pace in this quarter compared to earlier this year.

“We continued to expand our studios in North America however most of the increased capacity was added toward the end of the quarter," Carlesund explained. "European markets overall showed single-digit growth in the quarter, with a step faster pace in the Nordics."

Lastly, the CEO expressed his high hopes for the second half of 2022 and stated he feels “excited about all things we have in front of us. We want to be better, we want to deliver more, we want to run faster - that is who we are. Adding Nolimit City and the upcoming games on the 2022 roadmap will be great and we are again increasing the gap to all competitors."