Mr. Green Claims Success for Q3 as it Adapts to Foreign Markets

Q3 was good to operators as well, though the numbers need some interpretation.

How Mr. Green Jumped

Online casino operator Mr. Green's promising year-on-year jump in revenue shown for Q3 2015 has Chief Executive Officer Per Norman raving about the fact that his company has “laid the foundation to continue to outpace the market.”

The totals that have spurred this enthusiasm include boosts of SEK 201.6 million (€21.5 million/$23.3 million) for an increase of almost a full fifth--or 19.6%--on the SEK 168.5 million posted in last year's third quarter.

Even more importantly for online casino industry watchers and players in general is the fact that Active Customers were well up for Mr Green, from 66,266 last year to 73,689 in Q3 this year, with Mr. Green reporting a commensurate jump in sales of approximately 20%.

Regulation Adaptation Costs

Interestingly, and a reflection on the costs of adapting to various regulations in new online casino markets, Mr. Green pointed out that Q3 earnings totals before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) excluding items affecting comparability fell from SEK 42.4 million in the third quarter of last year to SEK 40.8 million this year.

Also, and no less significant, earnings before interest and tax dropped from SEK positive of 28.4 million last year to a negative of SEK 82.7 million year-on-year in Q3.

The disparity between increased patronage and decreased profits was further explained by Norman as “impacted by recognition of an amount corresponding to SEK 25.4 million in tax, compared with SEK 400,000 in the year-earlier period.”

Consistent with Strategy

Norman attributes these disparities to risks which the company assumed in expanding into newly regulated markets, where despite operating costs increased operations in regulated markets ultimately serve to reduce business risk.

Thus the company has taken on greater cost control efforts in the interests of meeting anticipated “increased tax pressure from regulated markets.”

The strong overall showing of Q3 brought Mr. Green’s revenue for the year-to-date to SEK 591.5 million, a jump from 22.1% on the same point last year.

The success of overall visitorship and play, combined with Mr. Green's adaptation process, would imply that all numbers will smooth out in Mr. Green's favor.