Cherry Returns Fruitful In Q3 Interim

Lee R. - November 14, 2018

Industry Legal

A revaluation and a change in the boardroom, and expansion into Sweden distinguished a robust Q3 for the Cherry Group.

Cherry had a prosperous tour through the first nine months of the year.

How Robust Looks

The interim report for the gaming group covering the period of January to September 2018 reveals a diversity of strengthening positions.

Q3 Revenue

Q3 shows a 58 percent increase in group revenue to MSEK 899 (567), with organic revenue growth up 46 percent. To this growth acquisitions contributed 1 percent and currency 12 percent.

Q3 Profitability

Profitability was quite healthy, with EBITDA vaulting 130 percent to MSEK 258 (112) for an EBITDA margin of 29 percent (20).

These gains amounted to Q3 profit of MSEK 188 (42).The key driver was the revaluation of holding Highlight Games, where Cherry holds 60.4%, with earnings per share before and after dilution amounted to SEK 1.75 (0.22) and SEK 1.74 (0.21) respectively.

Q3 Expansion

The key expansion visible in Q3 was the application by Cherry subsidiary ComeOn for eight Swedish gaming licenses in September.

Q3 Boardroom

The key boardroom development for the period was the stepping down of Anna Bergius and Claes Ruthberg from the Board of Directors of Cherry AB in August.

Interim Performance

As far as interim performance for the nine months to 2018, Cherry Group revenue increased 42 percent to MSEK 2,332 (1,644), with organic growth at 32 percent as acquisitions contributed 1 percent and currency 9 percent.

Interim Profitability

Healthy profitability growth was visible in EBITDA’s 114 percent jump to MSEK 615 (288) and an EBITDA margin of 26 percent (18).

The robust growth amounted to a Cherry profit for the period of MSEK 367 (93), with the highlight Games revaluation affecting EBIT positively to MSEK 57.

Share Profile

The period concluded with the issuance of new shares, bringing the total breakdown of shares as of September 30^th to 4,988,000 Class A shares and 100,680,026 Class B shares for a total of 105,668,026 shares.

Share Outlook

Clearly, all shareholders at Cherry have something to work with, and the development of Online Gaming should bolster telling growth figures in Q4 2018 to characterize annual growth.