Gambling.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: GAMB) (“Gambling.com Group” or the “Company”), a fast-growing provider of digital marketing services for the global online gambling industry, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. The Company also updated its 2024 revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance as detailed below.
“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,” commented Charles Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer 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.”
Elias Mark, Chief Financial Officer of Gambling.com Group added, “By growing year on year in every one of our geographic reporting markets, we delivered record Q1 revenue with top line growth of 9% despite the comparable period benefiting from significantly more new state launch activity.”
First Quarter 2024 and Recent Business Highlights
Delivered more than 107,000 new depositing customers (“NDCs”)
Strong initial contribution from North Carolina following launch on March 11th
Secured new $50 million credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association
Repurchased 329,490 shares for an average price of $9.10
Completed highly accretive acquisition of Freebets.com and related assets on April 1st
Board of Directors approved an additional $10 million for the Company’s ordinary shares repurchase program in May
First Quarter 2024 Results Compared to First Quarter 2023
Revenues rose 9% year-over-year to a first quarter record $29.2 million, reflecting growth across all geographic reporting markets. The Company delivered more than 107,000 NDCs to customers, an increase of 22%.
Gross profit increased 5% to $27.0 million, including a $1.2 million increase in cost of sales related to the Gannett and Independent partnerships.
Total operating expenses increased 9% to $19.1 million, reflecting increases in sales and marketing, technology and general and administrative expenses.
Net income attributable to shareholders and net income per share rose 11% to $7.3 million and $0.19, respectively. Adjusted net income of $7.6 million and adjusted net income per share of $0.20 were flat, reflecting fair value movement related to acquisitions in the comparative period.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 was $10.2 million, reflecting an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 35% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $10.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin of 40%, in the year-ago period. The Q1 2024 Adjusted EBITDA margin reflects higher costs of sales related to media partnerships.
Operating cash flow increased 24% to $8.8 million. Free Cash Flow increased 32% to $8.2 million reflecting positive working capital movements within operating cash flow and lower capital expenditures. The Company converted 28% of revenues and 81% of Adjusted EBITDA to Free Cash Flow in the first quarter of 2024.
2024 Outlook
Reflecting changes made in early May to how Google treats commercial content on high authority websites that, at present, diminishes the effectiveness of the Company’s media partnerships, Gambling.com Group today updated its 2024 full-year revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance. The Company now expects full year revenue of $118 to $122 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $40 million to $44 million. This compares to the initial guidance provided on March 21, 2024, for revenue of $129 million to $133 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $44 million to $48 million. The midpoint of the updated Adjusted EBITDA outlook of $42 million reflects expected year-over-year growth of 14%.
Charles Gillespie commented, “Even with these shifts in the digital landscape, the strength and resilience of our business will enable us to deliver strong year over year Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow growth. With less competition in the search engine results pages, our owned and operated assets are better positioned for the long term than ever before.”
The Company’s guidance assumes:
Following the launch of sports betting in North Carolina on March 11th, no additional North American markets come online over the balance of 2024
Apart from the acquisition of Freebets.com and related assets, no impact from any additional acquisitions in 2024
Full year cost of sales of approximately $4.8 million, of which $2.2 million was incurred in Q1
An average EUR/USD exchange rate of 1.09 throughout 2024
To access, please dial in approximately 10 minutes before the start of the call. An archived webcast of the conference call will also be available in the News & Events section of the Company’s website at gambling.com/corporate/investors/news-events. Information contained on the Company’s website is not incorporated into this press release.