NetEnt Reports Slower Growth in Q2

After a period of rapid financial growth, NetEnt’s numbers have started to dwindle down during the second quarter of this year. That’s what the interim report posted publicly by the Swedish casino software developer giant says in a nutshell.

NetEnt’s growth during the period from June 30th was 5.9%, which is a huge decrease compared to a 9.4% rise during 2018’s Q1, with the main culprit identified in the Euro and British Pound currency devaluation. Revenues in this period have increased from SEK 412.8 million last year to SEK 437.2 million. Profit is up 1.2% and 10.8 billion gaming transactions have been made during the quarter, which is 7% more than last year. New customer agreements have been signed and 7 new customers’ casinos (one last than last year) have been launched.

Despite these figures all going upwards and not being too shabby per se, this prompted an alarm to go off for NetEnt, as the company’s CEO, Therese Hillman, announces measures to counter the negative trend: ”We are taking action where we are not doing enough at the moment. What we do see is that the slowdown in the UK has made a difference and the UK is a challenging market. During the quarter, we came up with a plan and started taking action in several areas to strengthen our customer offering, cut lead times, and free up resources for new commercial projects. These changes are necessary for us to reassert our strong market position in online casino. I look forward to a busy autumn, focused on the turnaround of NetEnt, with improved efficiency and many new products and growth initiatives that all have players and customers in focus.”

Hillman also went on to note that she “will follow the development of all new games with great interest,” noting that some new game concepts will be presented with the launch of BerryBurst in August which will be a game based on players’ and insights! There is also a new initiative for “the beta-launch of games in the form of Social Casino games on Facebook, which in the longer-term perspective could add new revenues and strengthen our game brands with players on many different markets.”

Hillman was appointed CEO of the company during this period, while Fredrik Erbing was elected a new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Also, a customer agreement with Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in New Jersey has been signed.

Source:

“Interim report January – June 2018”, netent.com, July 13, 2018.