SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Genius Sports Inc has raised its full-year 2023 corporate guidance, as Q3 trading outperforms expectations.
The NYSE-listed sportstech group declared a key milestone as it surpassed corporate revenues of $100m for the first time in Q3.
Group revenues stood at $102m, exceeding third quarter guidance of $100m and representing 29% year-on-year growth on 2022 comparative results of $77m.
A breakdown of unit performance saw Genius Betting Technology unit achieve 34% revenue increase to $66m (Q3 2022: $49m). Unit growth was attributed to Genius securing new customer acquisition and enhancing partner contracts with new content and value-added services.
The firm’s Media Services unit reported a 28% revenue increase to $23m (Q3 2022: $18m)– reflecting continued US growth for its programmatic advertising solutions.
Further positives saw Genius’ new Sportstech division generate revenues of $12.9m.
Of significance unit performance underlined a growth of ‘770 basis points year-on-year’ in EBITDA margin, as Genius once more beat earnings expectations to declare an Q3 adjusted EBITDA of $18m up 131% on 2022 results of $7.6m.
Q3 accounts saw Genius narrow its operating losses from $33m to $8.9m. Management highlighted: “The improvement was offset by a $29.8 million reduction in gain on foreign currency compared to the prior year, resulting in Group net loss of ($11.6 million) in the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.”
On a year-to-date basis, Genius corporate revenues track at $285m (+21%) combined with an adjusted EBITDA of $41.5m (+215%).
Anticipating a strong finish to FY2023 trading, Genius upgrades its corporate targets to group revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $412m and $53m, respectively.
“Our consistent outperformance reflects the execution of our core strategy as we continue to develop and distribute innovative technology across the sports ecosystem, enabling success for our partners, and further solidifying our long-term strategic position,” said Mark Locke, Genius Sports Co-Founder.
Genius commercial prospects are further emboldened by the key objectives enhancing its betting technology partnership with NFL that will feature new on-screen graphic overlays and visualisations.
Furthermore, Genius has signed a new agreement with Premier League Productions to deliver an enhanced live broadcast with rich tracking data insights and data-driven augmentation.
Nick Taylor, Genius Sports CFO, reaffirms expectation for positive free-cash-flow in the second half of 2023, adding: “We have reached a critical turning point in our business as we have realised consistent margin expansion in each quarter this year and now have much higher visibility into our long-term model following the renewals and extensions of key rights partnerships.”
