Stride Gaming PLC (LON:STRST) reported net gaming revenue (NGR) growth of 18% to £89.9m in FY17, driven by an impressive 39% organic growth in the core real money gaming (RMG). Adjusted EBITDA of £20.2m was slightly above our recently raised estimates. Stride has invested heavily in technology and operational leverage should kick in as acquired customers migrate to the higher-margin proprietary platform. A small investment into the Indian rummy market could also lead to diversified revenue growth. Strong cash flow and £17.4m net cash leaves the company well positioned to pay the final Tarco earnout. The stock trades at CY18e 8.2x EV/EBITDA and 12.0x P/E, slightly below peer group averages. Profitability in the core business should offset potential investment losses and our estimates remain largely unchanged.
Third-largest UK online bingo operator
Stride operates over 100 bingo sites and has c 12% share in the UK online bingo market. FY17 pro-forma NGR increased 18% y-o-y to £89.9m with adjusted EBITDA increasing 24% to £20.2m. The highlight was 39% growth in RMG to £48.6m from the in-house proprietary platform. Non-proprietary platform revenues (Tarco and 8Ball) grew 16% to £33.1m and, as expected, social gaming NGR declined 37% to £8.1m. Key RMG operational highlights were a 26% increase in deposits to £147m and a 29% increase in yield per player to £147. Our revenue and EBITDA forecasts remain largely unchanged.
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