“A year of strategic delivery, positioning the company for scalable growth”
Gfinity plc (AIM: GFIN), a world-leading esports and gaming solutions provider, today announces its audited final results for the year ended 30 June 2021.
Financial highlights
· 27% increase in revenue to £5.7m (2020: £4.5m), driven by 768% increase in revenue attached to Gfinity owned and co-owned properties.
· Significant reduction in adjusted operating loss* by 50% to £2.7m (2020: £5.5m loss).
· 61% reduction in adjusted EBITDA loss**, including the impact of gains and losses on Associates, to £2.3m (2020: £5.8m loss).
· Adjusted administrative expenses*** of £5.4m (2020: £8.3m), representing 35% year on year reduction, reflecting full year impact of business restructuring in March 2020.
· Cash and cash equivalents at year end of £1.4m (2020: £1.6m), supplemented by post year-end over-subscribed fundraise to raise £3.3m before costs for targeted acquisition.
Comment from Gfinity CEO John Clarke:
“Over the past year, Gfinity has continued to embed itself into the gaming ecosystem by providing unique esports solutions and establishing a highly engaged community of gamers through the Gfinity Digital Media Group (GDM) and our proprietary technology IP.
Our strategic focus on ‘what we own’ has enabled us to add significant value to gaming communities, benefitting our partners and clients, as well as creating a clear growth engine for our business in the form of the GDM. By focusing on what we can control and partnering with great brands that have a shared need, we are delivering on our strategy and are well-positioned for scalable growth.
Financial performance reflects the progress of our new strategy and we have been encouraged with what we have achieved against the backdrop of the pandemic. GDM continues to expand following several strategically important acquisitions, including Stock Informer and SiegeGG post-period, and we have grown our gaming community and
enhanced our ecommerce capabilities. While our Tournament Platform is driving competitions of significant scale, our sharpened focus has also allowed us to make significant savings in operating expenditure.
Looking ahead, we are now in a position to grow and monetise at scale. Despite ongoing uncertainty around Covid-19, macro trends around gaming are attractive and we remain focused on delivering against our strategy.”
Operational highlights
· Significant growth of owned and recurring revenue streams providing a strong foundation for scalable growth in future years, with GDM platform selected by leading brands to target specific gaming audiences and deliver global esports programmes.
· Commercial agreements signed with leading brands and publishers including Activision, Manchester United, Cadburys, Formula 1, Premier League and Red Bull.
· Bolstered strategic partnerships to drive engagement across owned websites, including the launch of new digital motorsport competition with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management (ADMM) and expanded relationship with global advertising technology platform Venatus.
· Added significant senior talent bringing experience with publishers and in growing digital businesses to support with delivering on strategic priorities, including two additional Non-Executive Directors.
Growth and expansion of Gfinity Digital Media Group (GDM)
· Strong growth of publishing platform, GDM, with revenues of £1.6 million.
· Acquisition of leading online fantasy and sci-fi news community, Epicstream.
· Partnerships launched with sites that add value to the user experience, such as MapGenie.
· Launch of dedicated mobile gaming website Only Mobile Gaming! (OMG!) and new virtual racing website Racinggames.gg.
Post-period highlights
· Acquisition of Megit Limited, owner and operator of the website Stock Informer, an ecommerce referral site for gamers and their lifestyles, funded via successful fundraise.
· Acquisition of SiegeGG, including technology behind leading statistical analysis of Rainbow Six Siege video game.
· Selected by Nintendo and Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company as operational partner for respective gaming and esports tournaments.
· Continued expansion of senior leadership team with appointment of new Head of Brands and Digital Relations.
Outlook
· Refreshed strategy positioning the business to deliver scalable growth and drive financial performance.
· Sharpened focus of growing what we own, further licensing of proprietary technology IP, and continued selection by major brands provides the Board with confidence in the long-term trajectory of the business.
· Continued management focus on limiting impacts of macro-economic factors that could create headwinds.
READ MORE: Download Gfinity’s full Final Results for 2021 here
*Adjusted operating loss is before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, impairment and the share-based payment expense. It does, however, include operating lease expenditure reclassified as capital spend in line with the requirements of IFRS 16 to ensure consistency with prior years.
**Adjusted EBITDA loss is the Adjusted operating loss, plus or minus the share of gain/ loss on Associate entities, including any gain/ (loss) on disposal of such entities.
***Adjusted administrative expenses show the underlying operating expenditure of the company, adjusting for the same items as with the adjusted operating loss.
