– Increase in billings, revenues and gross margin
– Record growth in new customers with reduced cost per lead (CPL)
– Guidance confirmed
(Hamburg, 12 November 2015) Lotto24 AG – the leading online provider of state-licensed lotteries – continues to make dynamic progress. The first nine months of 2015 were successful. At EUR 101.0 million, billings were up strongly by 75.8% compared to the prior-year figure of EUR 57.5 million. There was also a considerable increase of 88.4% in revenues – from EUR 5.3 million in the same period last year to EUR 10.0 million. Moreover, the gross margin improved significantly in the first nine months of 2015 from 9.2% in the previous year to 9.9%.
Due to effective marketing activities and the very positive jackpot trend for “EuroJackpot” and “Lotto 6aus49” in April, May, July and September, Lotto24 gained 306 thousand new customer registrations in the first nine months (prior year: 219 thousand). As a result, the number of registered customers rose by 81.5% to around 827 thousand as of 30 September 2015 (prior year: 456 thousand).
The cost per lead (CPL) was significantly reduced to EUR 32.23 in the first nine months (prior year: EUR 45.16). At EUR -9.9 million, marketing expenses in the first nine months were unchanged from the previous year (prior year: EUR -9.9 million). Despite the cost of insourcing IT, EBIT improved slightly to EUR -11.3 million (prior year: EUR -11.5 million) and net profit to EUR -10.1 million (prior year: EUR -11.7 million).
“With our compelling KPIs and positive news, we are delighted to be able to report that we have laid the right strategic foundation for us to leave the start-up phase,” says Petra von Strombeck, CEO of Lotto24 AG. The insourcing of IT is progressing as well according to plan and is expected to be completed by 31 December 2015 at the latest. “With our technological independence we will achieve a further important milestone.”
Assuming external conditions remain unchanged, the company forecasts at least 320 thousand new customers in 2015 (prior year: 284 thousand). As a result of this strong growth in new customers, billings for 2015 are expected to rise by more than 50% compared to the prior-year figure (prior year: EUR 82 million). Lotto24 still anticipates a modest increase in gross margin and a reduction in CPL compared to the previous year. With a slight reduction in marketing expenditure compared to 2014, the company expects EBIT and net profit for the current fiscal year to be on a par with the previous year.
