XLMedia PLC (AIM:XLM, OTC:XLMDF) said it has traded in line with expectations in 2022 with its North American sports business trading strongly.
The company said the North American Sports vertical is now a key growth, profit and cash driver for the group.
The global digital performance publisher and data miner said revenues for 2021 clocked in at US$66.5mln, up from US$54.8mln and in line with guidance issued at the beginning of February.
The sports vertical generated revenues of US$31.4mln, up from US$11.3mln the year before, more than offsetting a decline from the European Casino assets, where revenues slid to US$23.2mln from US$31.7mln.
Adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) rose to US$17.9mln from US$12.2mln in 2020 and were comfortably ahead of February’s guidance of US$17.2mln.
The adjusted profit before tax practically doubled to US$10.5mln from US$5.3mln the year before while reported profit before tax soared to US$4mln from US$1.1mln.
Cash and short-term investments at the end of 2021 stood at US$24.6mln, up from US$13.9mln a year earlier.
No dividend has been declared.
"We've made great progress in North America during 2021 alongside delivering important organisational changes to both rationalise and ring-fence legacy areas of our business. We set out to become a significant player in North American Sports - in line with our strategy to pursue high growth, large, regulated markets - we're now in really good shape, with strong geographical coverage and capability, ready to fully exploit this significant market opportunity,” said Stuart Simms, the chief executive officer of XLMedia.
Julia Markey, the interim chair, said the business is becoming more agile and responsive so that it can fully exploit new opportunities after an organisational design that was initiated in the second half of last year.
The group's restructuring is set to be completed in the second half of this year, leaving XLMedia now fully focused on growth and profit generation.