Nektan PLC (LON:NKTN), an international B2B and white label gaming software and services provider, has today provided a trading and business update for the three months ended 31 March 2018 (Q3 FY18). The figures stated below are all unaudited.
Managed Gaming Solutions (Europe)
|
Q3 FY18 |
Q2 FY18 |
Change* |
Q3 FY17 |
Change* |
|
|
Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) |
£5.1m |
£4.7m |
8.2% |
£3.5m** |
44.8% |
|
First Time Depositors (FTDs) |
36,359 |
36,907 |
-1.5% |
38,424 |
-5.4% |
|
Cash Wagering |
£142.4m |
£127.8m |
11.5% |
£99.0m |
43.8% |
*calculated using underlying, non-rounded figures
**restated
· Nektan continued to deliver strong growth, with NGR in Q3 FY18 of £5.1m, increasing by 8.2% compared to Q2 FY18 and by 44.8% versus Q3 FY17.
· The slight dip in FTDs is due to Nektan’s continued focus on the quality of the player and spend. This focus on player quality resulted in cash wagering increasing by 11.5% in Q3 FY18 from the previous quarter and by 43.8% versus Q3 FY17.
· Nektan launched 18 new sites and five new partners in Q3 FY18. The Company is now operating with a total of 111 brands from 49 partners with plans to launch up to 20 new sites from both existing and new partners throughout the quarter ending 30 June 2018. We continue to rationalise sites and partners as part of our ongoing focus on operational improvement.
· A total of 73 games were launched in Q3 FY18, from three new as well as existing game vendors, further diversifying Nektan’s game portfolio.
B2B
· Nektan generated £83k in revenue from the B2B business during Q3 FY18 versus £47k in Q2 FY18 with a total of nine deals now live globally.
· The first global platform deal with Tyche Digital (“Tyche”) is now live and generating revenue, opening up a significant pipeline of further opportunities. Nektan has a total of three deals now live in Asia and has completed 10 game vendor integrations delivering 250+ games on its Evolve Lite platform.
o The Company expects to go live with its first Tier 1 operator in Asia during April 2018 and Tyche has signed a further four deals with significant Asian operators, which are expected to go live before Nektan’s financial year-end.
· New, higher margin, revenue sources for Nektan from sheltering and platform deals:
o During the last quarter, Nektan went live with a sheltering deal allowing games developer Magnet Gaming to operate in Gibraltar under Nektan’s licence. Further sheltering deals are expected to be approved and launched before the Company’s financial year-end;
o The Group has a number of ongoing commercial discussions around additional platform deals and expects to have at least one further deal live in this calendar year.
On-Premise Gaming (North America)
· Nektan’s US subsidiary, Rapid Games™, continues to generate significant interest in its on-premise solution and is expected to complete back-end system integration with a major commercial operator and to initiate trials with further multi-property groups during the current quarter.
· During the last quarter, Rapid Games™ completed the development of, and received certifications for, its latest product additions, which now include a third party Class III RGS, integrations with smart tables and tablets, a growing library of both Class II and III games and compliance with an expanding list of standards and regulations.
Gary Shaw, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Nektan, said:
“Our results clearly demonstrate Nektan’s growing commercial and operational strength throughout international markets. The significant increase in net gaming revenues and cash wagering from our European white label business represents continuing growth momentum. This growth, at the same time as launching into new markets, underlines Nektan’s strength of management and technical capabilities. I am particularly pleased with our ability to expand, deploy and support in multiple geographic markets during this period from our stable, centralised cost base, delivering incremental revenue growth to the Group.
Nektan is becoming one of the market leaders in both mature and emerging markets for our sector and, as the market expands over the next year and beyond, our technology will become even more sought after. We remain confident about our growth strategy and look forward to announcing further encouraging updates over the coming months.”
