Ronen Kannor
Analyst · Cormark Securities. Your line is now open
Thank you, Yaniv. And good morning, everyone. I’ll begin my comments on Slide 6. As Yaniv indicated earlier, the second quarter of 2023 was another successful step in our digital journey. We continue to execute against our mission and strategic plan, and we can see that in our financial and operational results. In the second quarter, total revenue were up by 18.9% year-over-year to €24.7 million continuing our growth momentum since the third quarter of 2021. The growth was mainly derived organically through our existing customer base, launching 2021 and 2022, in particular, the PAM and turn-key solution customers in the Netherlands, content offering and a solid revenue performance from Wall Street Gaming Studio customers. From an operational KPI perspective, total wagering generated by games and content offered by the group during the quarter was up by 31.2% from the same period in the previous year to €5.5 billion. As you can see from the wagering chart on the right-hand side, Bragg saw an ongoing positive trajectory from the third quarter of 2021, which demonstrates our ability to transform and diversify our operations. Gross profit for the quarter increased by 18.9% to €13.8 million, with gross profit margin remain at 55.9% level. The gross profit is primarily the result of increased revenue performance in all content products while recording slightly lower PAM and managed services revenues. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was up 51.3% to €4.7 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin reaching 19.2%, an improvement of 410 basis points from the same period in the previous year. The change in margin is mainly the result of scale in revenue, while maintaining controlled investment in salaries and subcontractors costs as part of the company’s strategy to expand software development, product and senior management functions. Operating income for the quarter amounted to €1.3 million, an improvement of about €0.5 million from the previous year and net income also increased by €0.3 million to €0.4 million. We are pleased with our current trading, and we’re updating our 2023 revenue guidance range to €95 million to €97 million and adjusted EBITDA range to €15.5 million to €16.5 million. As you can see on Slide 7, the gross profit margin continuing a growing trajectory since the third quarter of 2021 due to the shift in Bragg product mix. We continue to executing as our mission and strategic plan, and we are scaling up our business in line with both our revenue growth and continued movement in product mix, as indicated on the right-hand side of the slide. Product mix has changed noticeably since third quarter of 2021, but the revenue scaling, it is also trended towards proprietary content, PAM and turn-key solutions by leading to improvement in gross profit margins and overall profitability. Gross profit increased by 18.9% to €13.8 million, with margins stable from previous year to 55.9%, while increasing by 240 basis points from the previous quarter. The second quarter revenue growth was driven mainly by the Dutch PAM and turn-key customers, together with outperformance of our content offering, which is Bragg Studios, Powered by Bragg and Bragg Hub aggregated content. In the second quarter, content revenue segment increased to €18.9 million and representing 76.6% of total revenue compared to 69.3% in the previous year, highlighting Bragg’s positive execution of content strategy. Proprietary content deployment is positively progressing, both in the U.S. and EU markets by increasing both distribution and games performance. And as Yaniv indicated, we have recently marked another key milestones with the launch of a new tech stack in Pennsylvania with our fourth U.S. state to date with launching another strategic partner in Michigan and Connecticut. As we indicated in our previous quarters, we are targeting gross profit margin improvement to exceed 60% by full year of 2025, mainly by increasing the proportion of revenue, which comes from proprietary content, PAM and turn-key solutions. Moving to Slide 8, adjusted EBITDA amounted to €4.7 million against an operating income of €1.3 million. The gap was driven by the falling noncash and exceptional items. Depreciation and amortization, the increase of intangible amortization as part of Wild Streak Spin acquisition in June 2021 and June 2022, respectively, and the increase in capital software development costs over the period. Share-based payment, a reduction in the charge of awards granted to teams, including senior management during the period, composed of DSUs, RSUs and share options. Exception cost, which is mainly associated with the discounted contractor relationship with several employees. And gain on remeasurement of deferred consideration, its costs mainly associated with the acquisition of Spin in June 2022 on the total outstanding deferred liability. Moving to Slide 9, as you see on the slide, we ended the second quarter with a cash balance of €10.7 million compared to €11.3 million at the beginning of the year with outstanding liability of $7 million of convertible security. We expect to continue exercising the right to pay down the existing convertible security subject to ongoing management assessment. During the second quarter and post quarter end, the company made cash repayment of $2 million, leaving an outstanding balance of $6 million as of today’s date. Our net working capital at the end of June 2023 is €8.3 million is excluding deferred consideration compared to €6.6 million at the beginning of the year. From a cash flow perspective, for the six months ended June 30, 2023, a total of €5.2 million generated from operating activities with underlying performance reaching €7.4 million offset by negative movement in working capital and income taxes of €2.2 million. A total of €3.9 million invested in intangible assets, mainly related to the capitalization of software development costs in the period. And a total of €1.3 million used to finance activities, which is predominantly related to repayment of loans in relation to the convertible security in the total of €0.9 million. Looking forward, management are projecting a positive free cash flow from operations, while there is no CapEx of technology debt required in the business. In addition, management is confident that there are no current financing or debt requirement needs of the business. Improving net working capital position and free cash are primary objectives, and we will explain that in the next slide. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate Bragg’s clear plan to further improve financial performance by increasing gross profit and adjusted EBITDA margins to enhance net working capital. There are three fundamentals: revenue, diversifying revenue mix, focusing on distribution of an in-house studio content and maintaining a profitable relationship with our exclusive partners. U.S. acquisitions and exclusive partner studios support accelerated U.S. market penetration and strength our long-term relationship with our Tier 1 customers in various markets and positioning Brag as must-have iGaming content and tech solution for our partners. From a margin perspective, improving gross profit margin by optimizing product mix leveraging our PAM, aggregated and exclusive content, optimizing investment in tech and people ensuring efficient revenue growth, capitalizing on synergies to lower cost base and utilizing global operational functions and committing to our long-term strategy of exceeding 60% gross profit and 25% adjusted EBITDA margin by 2025. And for net working capital, strong performance leading to increased free cash flow, optimize CapEx and operational expenditure, exploring options to credit facility or line of credit to enhance working capital position and continue to utilize free cash from operations to repay convertible security to avoid further dilution. With that, I would like to turn back to Yaniv to continue with our business operational update.