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Sportradar Reports Strong Growth In First Quarter 2022
Overall revenue increased 31%; U.S. revenue increased 124% year over year
Company reiterated annual outlook for fiscal 2022 projecting strong annual revenue growth of 18% to 25%
Sportradar Group AG, the leading global technology company enabling next generation engagement in sports, and the number one provider of business-to-business solutions to the global sports betting industry, today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2022.
First Quarter 2022 Highlights
- Revenue in the first quarter of 2022 increased 31% to €167.9 million ($186.4 million)1 compared with the first quarter of 2021, driven by strong growth across all business segments. In particular, the U.S. segment revenue grew by 124% to €25.7 million ($28.5 million) compared with the first quarter of 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA2 in the first quarter of 2022 decreased 5% to €26.7 million ($29.6 million)1 compared with the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher costs associated with being a public company as well as reversal of certain temporary COVID-19 related cost savings versus the first quarter of 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA margin2 was 16% in the first quarter of 2022, compared with 22% over the prior year period.
- Adjusted Free Cash Flow2 in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 100% to €12.9 million, compared with the prior year period. The resulting free cash flow conversion2 was 48% in the quarter.
- Strong Net Retention Rate2, based on the last twelve months, increased to 121% at the end of the first quarter of 2022 compared with 107% the same period in 2021 highlighting the continued success of the Company’s cross-sell and upsell strategy across its global customer base.
- Cash and cash equivalents totaled €715.5 million as of March 31, 2022. Total liquidity available for use at March 31, 2022, including undrawn credit facilities was €825.5 million.
- The Company reiterated its previously provided annual outlook for full-year 2022 for revenue and Adjusted EBITDA2. Please see the “Annual Financial Outlook” section of this press release for further details.
| Key Financial Measures | Q1 | Q1 | Change | |
| In millions, in Euros € | 2022 | 2021 | % | |
| Revenue | 167.9 | 128.5 | 31% | |
| Adjusted EBITDA2 | 26.7 | 28.2 | (5%) | |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin2 | 16% | 22% | – | |
| Adjusted Free Cash Flow2 | 12.9 | 6.5 | 100% | |
| Free Cash Flow Conversion2 | 48% | 23% | – |
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1 For the convenience of the reader, we have translated Euros amounts in the tables below at the noon buying rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on March 31, 2022, which was €1.00 to $1.11.
2 Non-IFRS financial measure; see “Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Operating Metrics” and accompanying tables for further explanations and reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to IFRS measures.
Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive Officer of Sportradar said: “Our fiscal 2022 is off to a fast start, with core, high-margin betting products driving growth around the world. Our U.S. business continues its tremendous growth story as more states legalize and sports betting becomes live, mainstream entertainment. As the market leader, our technology and data-driven insights continue to transform the converging media, entertainment and sports industries and fuel our consistent and long-term profitable growth story.”
Segment Information
RoW Betting
- Segment revenue in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 25% to €86.7 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. This growth was driven primarily by increased sales of our higher value-add offerings including Managed Betting Services (MBS) which increased 51% to €26.4 million and Live Data/ Odds Services, which increased 16% to €46.8 million. MBS growth is attributable to increased turnover3 and Live Data/ Odds Services grew as a result of upselling content to existing customers. MBS includes Managed Trading Services (MTS) and Managed Platform Services (MPS). Additionally, increased content sales from the Synergy acquisition contributed to the growth.
- Segment Adjusted EBITDA2 in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 13% to €44.6 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin2 decreased to 51% from 57% in the first quarter of 2021 driven by temporary savings in sport rights and scouting costs in the prior year related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as acquisition of new sport rights.
RoW Audiovisual (AV)
- Segment revenue increased in the first quarter of 2022 by 17% to €45.9 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. This growth was primarily a result of increased content from Tennis Australia and the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as upselling content from the Synergy acquisition.
- Segment Adjusted EBITDA2 in the first quarter of 2022 was flat at €8.9 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin2 decreased to 19% from 23% compared with the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to higher sports rights costs driven by the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic versus prior year, and acquisition of new sports rights.
United States
- Segment revenue in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 124% to €25.7 million compared with the first quarter of 2021. This growth was driven by increased sales of U.S. Betting services primarily as a result of new states legalizing betting. We also experienced growth from increased sales to media companies and a positive impact from the acquisition of Synergy Sports.
- Segment Adjusted EBITDA2 in the first quarter of 2022 was (€6.4) million compared with the first quarter of 2021 of (€3.6) million, primarily due to increased investment in the Company’s league and team solutions focused business. Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin2 improved to (25%) from (32%) compared with the first quarter of 2021 reflecting an improvement in the U.S. segment operating leverage.
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2 Non-IFRS financial measure; see “Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Operating Metrics” and accompanying tables for further explanations and reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to IFRS measures.
3 Turnover is the total amount of stakes placed and accepted in betting.
Costs and Expenses
- Personnel expenses in the first quarter of 2022 increased by €13.7 million to €52.3 million compared with the first quarter of 2021 primarily resulting from additional hires in the Company’s product and technology organizations across high and low-cost locations. Employee headcount increased by 620 to 3,075 full time employees at the end of the first quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter of 2021.
- Other Operating expenses in the first quarter of 2022 increased by €5.0 million to €19.5 million compared with the first quarter of 2021 mainly driven by higher costs associated with being a public company, and the reversal of temporary COVID-19 related cost savings versus the prior year.
- Total Sport rights costs in the first quarter of 2022 increased by €13.1 million to €54.0 million compared with the first quarter of 2021, primarily resulting from new rights for 2022 for ICC, UEFA, ATP and a normalized schedule in sports such as NBA, NHL and MLB, as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions eased.
Recent Business Highlights
- In April 2022, Sportradar acquired Vaix, a pioneer in developing AI solutions for the iGaming Industry. Vaix’s innovative AI technology allows betting and gaming operators to gain a personalized view of their customers, which provides a more targeted, player-friendly experience. Sportradar has partnered with Vaix previously and incorporated its technology into its Managed Trading Services (MTS) offering. Sportradar’s MTS solution is a sophisticated trading, risk, live odds and liability management offering that helps betting operators boost margins and profits, while increasing efficiency and managing risk.
- Sportradar was awarded a supplier registration for online/mobile wagering in Ontario. With this registration for online/mobile wagering from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Sportradar now holds over 36 licenses in North America across states, territories, tribes, and Canada. Additionally, Sportradar Integrity Services and the Canadian Hockey League announced a multi-year education and bet monitoring services agreement. This new relationship increases Sportradar Integrity Services’ portfolio of ice hockey partners to nine different leagues and federations around the world and strengthens its leadership position across North American sports leagues.
- The Company continued to strengthen its U.S. leadership by appointing former Fiserv executive Michael Gandolfo as Group Head, Regional Sales. Gandolfo led Fiserv’s Large Financial Institution Sales and Service Team, responsible for over 300 top financial institutional clients.
- Norwegian state gaming operator, Norsk Tipping, will deploy Sportradar’s internet-based Self-Service Betting Terminal (iSSBT) into 245 retail outlets across Norway to support the gaming operator’s growth. iSSBT is deployed in over 500 retail outlets, enabling Norsk Tipping to establish a mobile-first and online digital strategy, along with a retail presence.
- Sportradar continued to advance its mission to detect, investigate and prevent betting-related match-fixing, doping and other threats to the integrity of sport by announcing a multi-year integrity partnership with NASCAR, an expansion of a previous agreement to provide bet monitoring and reporting with its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), launching a Sportradar Integrity Exchange, a network that enables bookmakers to report suspicious betting activity and extended its work with the Austrian Federal Criminal Police on anti-doping.
- The Company also announced that it will act as an advisor to Bowl Season on the sports betting space in a responsible manner, with a focus on educating the organization’s membership on the rapidly evolving world of sports betting, as well as the opportunity to expand the scope to include Sportradar’s Integrity Services.
Annual Financial Outlook
Sportradar is reiterating its outlook for fiscal 2022 provided on March 30, 2022 as follows:
- Revenue is expected to be in the range of €665.0 million to €700.0 million ($738.2 million to $777.0 million)1, representing growth of 18% to 25% over fiscal 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA2 is expected to be in the range of €123.0 million to €133.0 million ($136.5 million to $147.6 million)1, representing growth of 21% to 30% over fiscal 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA margin2 is expected to be in the range of 18.5% to 19.0%, an improvement over the prior year.4
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1 For the convenience of the reader, we have translated Euros amounts in the tables below at the noon buying rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on March 31, 2022, which was €1.00 to $1.11.
2 Non-IFRS financial measure; see “Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Operating Metrics” and accompanying tables for further explanations and reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to IFRS measures.
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QiH Group has been in the betting and gaming trade press frequently for its exciting yet steady growth the past few months – mainly in scouting and appointing the best-in-class talent from within the industry.
The latest talent acquisition in the iGaming group’s repertoire is finance and industry stalwart Simon Winder, who joins after seven years with Spotlight Sports Group (SSG). Winder, who has an impressive record in finance, including half a decade with the Football Association as well as time in the music and television industry.
As part of the new C-suite layer in the UK side of QiH’s business, Winder will use his growth-oriented financial expertise to support the business’s rapid growth, set out longer-term finance strategies and work with each department to achieve overall P&L goals.
Jamie Walters, CEO and co-founder of QiH Group, said that Winder’s appointment completes the C-level scaling the business set out to achieve at the beginning of FY 2024-2025.
“We’ve made no secret of the fact that our business is growing fast. FY2023 delivered 75 percent growth in both revenue and profit and 2024 is on track to achieve the same again,” Walters explains. “Simon is an integral part of the formula we need to support this growth and to help take QiH Group into the next phase of our business. Massive thanks to our incredible HR Director, Andrea Talreja, and her incisive and insightful executive search that has brought us the support at C-level that we need to forge ahead.”
Winder, who will take up his post 1 November 2024, said: “After a wonderful and rewarding seven years with SSG, it’s great to be moving to a young company with the reputation for innovation, growth and compliance that QiH Group has. Having watched the affiliate’s progress from the outside these past four years, it will be extremely fulfilling to be part of the action!”
Winder joins newly appointed CMO David Murphy, CTO Sachin Saxena and COO Andrew Lee in managing the company from the London office, but across both the Skopje and London teams.
* * *
For more information on QiH, Simon or to arrange an interview, please contact: [email protected] or [email protected]
About QiH Group
Founded in 2014, QiH is an innovative and industry-leading digital marketing business in the iGaming industry. With offices in London, UK and Skopje, North Macedonia, we specialise in digital marketing within the iGaming industry in multiple markets around the globe. Our companies include: Digital Adventures, with its suite of iGaming aggregator brands that deliver traffic to the biggest operators in the industry; Wizard Interactive, an affiliate partner for top-tier US-based online casinos looking for high-quality traffic and Tau Marketing Services, a suite of three consumer-facing, multi-geo casino brands run through the Aspire network.
The post QiH Group completes C-suite hiring spree with new CFO appointment appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Virgin Bet is excited to announce the second iteration of its ‘Women’s Day’ event, which will take place at the Virgin Bet November Handicap on Saturday, 9th November, at Doncaster Racecourse.
The day will serve as a platform to celebrate women in racing, making it the latest effort in Virgin Bet’s long line of social impact initiatives to help create a more inclusive environment.
Building on the success of the inaugural Women’s Day at Ayr Racecourse last season, this celebration aims to further highlight and honour the invaluable contributions of women in racing.
The event at Doncaster Racecourse is open to everyone, embodying Virgin Bet’s brand mission, ‘A Good Bet’. This campaign emphasises the brand’s dedication to breaking down pre-existing barriers within sports and culture at large.
As part of the day’s proceedings, in addition to enjoying Doncaster’s spectacular race offerings, attendees can attend two panels led by presenter Natalie Pike, with the first starting at 10:45 am in the Exhibition Hall. Combining celebration with insight, these discussions will encourage reflection and spark conversation, connecting racing fans with legendary women transforming horse racing while also addressing diversity in the sport.
Panellists will include:
Panel 1: Women of Horse Racing
- Sophie Green (Trainee Clerk of the Course, Southwell Racecourse)
- Charlotte Russel (General Manager, Go Racing In Yorkshire)
- Rachel Harwood (Executive Director, Doncaster Racecourse)
Panel 2: Creative Inclusivity in Racing
- Dawn Goodfellow (CEO, Racing Welfare)
- Emma Kay (Founder, WalkSafe)
Additionally, as part of Virgin Bet’s raceday sponsorship, a donation will be made to Racing Welfare. Their work ensures the well-being and success of British horseracing’s workforce. Virgin Bet’s support for Racing Welfare highlights the importance of giving back to the community that keeps the industry running.
The Virgin Bet November Handicap marks the beginning of Virgin Bet’s continued partnership with Arena Racing Company (ARC) for a series of key meetings throughout the 2024/25 season. This partnership extends to fellow LiveScore Group brand LiveScore Bet.
Virgin Bet’s Personal Safety Partner, WalkSafe, will also be integrated into the race day. Founded in 2020, WalkSafe was developed to give the public as much information about their surroundings as possible. The app, WalkSafe+, enables users to plan the safest route home, along with a host of additional features to help ensure a safer experience for all.
Racegoers will be able to learn more about the innovative and free-to-download app over the course of the raceday, and get the chance to speak with its founder, Emma Kay, who strives every day to educate and highlight the importance of safety in all walks of life. Emma will also feature on one of the panels, sharing her insights and experiences as part of the discussions.
This second iteration of Women’s Day, now making its debut at Doncaster, serves as a potential alternative to traditional Ladies’ Day. Virgin Bet, in partnership with Doncaster Racecourse, is proud to continue fostering a celebratory environment, reminding everyone that racing truly welcomes all.
Dominic Vye, Marketing Director, Virgin Bet, said:
“Horse racing owes much of its success to the incredible women who contribute so much behind the scenes, and it’s time we celebrate their achievements. At Virgin Bet, as part of our ‘A Good Bet’ brand campaign, we want to make sport more accessible and highlight brilliance, no matter who the subject is, and this initiative is doing exactly that.”
Presenter and ‘Women’s Day Sponsored by Virgin Bet’ collaborator, Natalie Pike, added:
“It’s been amazing to return and once again be part of this fantastic initiative with the teams at Virgin Bet and Doncaster Racecourse. I hope this year’s event will continue to inspire and uplift the incredible women in horse racing. Creating an inclusive and safe environment for everyone in the sport is so important, and I’m proud to help bring attention to that.”
Rachel Harwood, Executive Director of Doncaster Racecourse, continued:
“We are proud to celebrate Women’s Day here at Doncaster Racecourse. This initiative shines a spotlight on the essential role women play in our sport. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to remind everyone that racing is for everyone, and we hope all racegoers feel that sense of inclusivity and belonging.”
“We’re also delighted to have Virgin Bet’s Personal Safety Partner WalkSafe integrated as part of their sponsorships with us. The experience and safety for all spectators at our racecourses is a priority, so it’s fantastic to see this as part of Virgin Bet’s ‘A Good Bet’ initiatives, which aims to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all.”
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.tickets.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk
The post VIRGIN BET AND PRESENTING STAR NATALIE PIKE BRING ‘WOMEN’S DAY’ TO DONCASTER RACECOURSE appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
The NSW Government has made appointments to the board of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA), including a deputy chairperson and two new members.
Associate Professor Amelia Thorpe and Nicholas Nichles have been appointed following a rigorous public expression of interest selection process. Additionally, existing member Chris Honey has been appointed deputy chairperson.
ILGA is a statutory decision-maker responsible for a range of liquor, registered club and gaming machine regulatory functions including determining licensing and disciplinary matters.
The appointments follow the end of the term of appointment for outgoing deputy chairperson Sarah Dinning, and also fill vacancies that existed on the board.
Mr Honey, who was appointed a member of ILGA earlier in 2024, has been named deputy chairperson until the end of his current appointment term (11 February 2027).
Mr Honey has extensive experience in the advisory and restructuring field, including working extensively in highly regulated sectors.
Associate Professor Thorpe and Mr Nichles have both been appointed for four years commencing 6 November 2024.
Associate Prof Thorpe is with the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales and an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Mr Nichles was previously a Consul General and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for Australian Government agency Austrade, based in the US.
The new appointments bring the ILGA board membership to seven. The new appointments will join chairperson Caroline Lamb, new deputy chairperson Mr Honey and current members Cathie Armour, Jeffrey Loy APM and Dr Suzanne Craig.
The post NSW Govt Appoints New Board Members to ILGA appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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