Gambling.com Group reported a 36.5% year-on-year rise in revenue for the third quarter of its 2021 financial year, but costs related to its Nasdaq led to a small dip in net profit.
Revenue for the three months to 30 September amounted to €10.1m (£12.0m/$13.6m), up from $7.4m in the corresponding period last year.
Gambling.com Group put this increase primarily down to the improved monetisation of new depositing customers (NDCs), attributed to a combination of technology improvements and changes in product and market mix.
However, the group also noted that NDCs fell 3.6% from 28,000 in Q3 of 2020 to 27,000.
Cost per acquisition (CPA) operations were responsible for more than half of total revenue for the quarter, generating $5.5m. Hybrid commission revenue reached $2.8m and revenue share commission $829,000, while other revenue totalled $1.0m.
Looking at revenue by vertical, casino contributed $8.0m of the total, while sports revenue reached $2.1m, with the remaining $82,000 coming from other sources.
The UK and Ireland remained Gambling.com Group’s core market with $4.5m in revenue for the quarter. Revenue from European markets totalled $2.7m and North American revenue more than doubled year-on-year to $2.3m, while rest of world revenue was $652,000.
Looking at costs and operating expenses were 97.4% higher at $7.7m, mainly due to higher spending across sales and marketing, yechnology, and general and administrative as the group took on more staff to support is growth plans.
Gambling.com Group also said its listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange incurred additional operating costs.
Higher costs meant operating profit was down 31.4% to $2.4m, though $293,000 in finance income helped pre-tax profit to $2.7m, marginally up from $2.6m last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was 14% lower at $3.5m.
Gambling.com Group received $2.0m in tax benefit during the quarter but after including $1.8m exchange differences on translating foreign currencies, net profit was $2.9m, down 6.5% year-on-year.
“Our financial performance in the third quarter remained strong as we grew revenue by 37% compared to the prior year and, despite the third quarter being the seasonally slowest quarter of the year, delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin of 34%,” Gambling.com Group co-founder and chief executive Charles Gillespie said.
“Importantly, after the quiet summer months of July and August, we delivered all-time-high revenue in September. With the launch of Arizona and the kick-off of the NFL season, we saw a significant uplift in US revenue in September and our US performance exceeded our internal expectations.
“Entering the quarter with good momentum we are encouraged by the start to our seasonally stronger fourth quarter.”
In terms of year-to-date performance, revenue for the nine months through to the end of September was 80.8% up to $32.0m.
Despite operating costs increasing by 93.6% to $21.3m, operating profit was 58.8% higher at $10.8m, while pre-tax profit climbed 49.3% to $10.9m.
Gambling.com Group received $733,000 in tax credits, which., after accounting for $3.0m in exchange differences on translating foreign currencies, meant net profit was up 16.2% to $8.6m.
“We remain highly focused on prudently growing the company through both sustained organic growth and future accretive acquisitions which we continue to actively pursue,” Gillespie said.
