XLMedia PLC (AIM:XLM, FRA:7X3) (LON:XLM) said it continues to make good progress in the current financial year and it expects a rise in interim revenues and earnings.
The digital performance publisher said trading has been buoyed by consistent performance in the Personal Finance vertical, record organic growth in the European Sport vertical and a positive impact from the recently acquired US Sports vertical.
READ: XLMedia appoints chief information officer to reboot long-term technology roadmap
However, the Casino vertical's tail revenues continue to deteriorate as new revenue is being built from a smaller existing asset base.
For the six months ended 30 June 2021, the AIM-listed firm estimates revenue t US$32mln compared to US$27.7mln a year ago, and adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) of US$7mln from US$5.1mln in 2020. Cash balances were US$38mln at the end of the period.
XLMedia reiterated revenue guidance of US$65-70mln for the full year.
It also said that the integration and start of marketing initiatives across its US sports assets continues to gather momentum, with increased levels of traffic reported across all sites since their acquisition, and the US Sports vertical is well-placed to benefit from the US sports season in the second half of the year.
Management is accelerating the move to reorganise the company by vertical markets, supported by a distributed shared services model.
XLMedia said it will allow it to better match the design of the group with its strategic intentions and more effectively execute and deliver them. This process was said to be particularly relevant to the Casino vertical which continues to generate lower levels of both historic and new player revenues.
It is expected that this initiative will allow for a total workforce reduction of up to 15%. The group said that functional expertise will now be spread across multiple locations and organised in a way that the business will have an agile service delivery model that can provide timely and localised support while simultaneously controlling costs.
XLMedia added it continues to actively evaluate acquisition opportunities that would boost its plans.