Interim report 3 - EBITDA Increased by 57 Percent with Value-Creating Partnership Agreements in Place

SUMMARY OF INTERIM REPORT Three, 1 July – 30 September 2023

 

FINANCIAL - 1 July 2023 – 30 Sep 2023

• Net sales amounted to SEK 71.7 million (SEK 71.3 million).
• Adjusted EBITDA amounted to SEK 11.5    million (SEK 7.2 million). *
• EBITDA amounted to SEK 11.3 million (SEK 7.2 million).
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 1.9 million (SEK 5.8 million).
• Profit before tax amounted to -8.5 MSEK (5.5 MSEK). **
• Cash flow from current operations before changes in working capital amounted to SEK 1.7 million (SEK 4.4 million).
• Earnings per share during the quarter amounted to SEK -0.3 (SEK 0.2)

FINANCIAL - 1 JAN 2023 – 30 sep 2023

• Net sales amounted to SEK 191.0 million (SEK 209.5 million)
• Adjusted EBITDA amounted to SEK 21.2 million (SEK 24.5 million). *
• EBITDA amounted to SEK 15.6 million (SEK 24.5 million).
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 3.2    million (SEK 20.9 million).
• Profit before tax amounted to -12.5 MSEK (19.3 MSEK). **
• Cash flow from current operations before changes in working capital amounted to SEK 4.3 million (SEK 23.5 million).
• Earnings per share during the period amounted to SEK -0.5 (SEK 0.7)

* Adjusted EBITDA consists of operating profit before depreciation and amortization and adjusted for non-recurring costs.

** The negative result is attributable to the company's increased interest costs linked to the bond and increased amortization.

 

CEO-Comment

 

EBITDA Increased by 57 Percent with Value-Creating Partnership Agreements in Place

 

M.O.B.A. Networks' third quarter was marked by a positive sales trend for our community websites in an unstable market. Sales across all community websites increased compared to Q2 2023, and traffic for the entire network increased by 31 percent compared to Q3 2022.

Ad sales for the Porofessor app have not met expectations, although the app has performed well regarding operational metrics such as the number of downloads and active users. Our ad partner for Porofessor, Overwolf, has unexpectedly underperformed compared to the rest of the ad market and struggled to achieve sufficient ad placements in several markets, particularly in traditionally strong European markets. The action plan established with Overwolf has already yielded results and, combined with some seasonal effects, has led to a substantial revenue increase in the first half of Q4.

 

Revenues amounted to 71.7 MSEK (71.3), meaning revenues increased by 13 percent compared to Q2 2023. In the first half of Q4, we see a significant revenue increase for the community websites and the Porofessor app. During Q3, M.O.B.A. Networks' EBITDA amounted to 11.3 MSEK (7.2), an increase of 57 percent. The EBITDA increase between Q2 and Q3 this year was 610 percent.

 

Increased Ad Sales with a New Ad Broker for Community Websites

As previously communicated, M.O.B.A. Network has entered into a framework agreement with the US-based ad broker Raptive, which has state-of-the-art ad technology and increases our global presence. During Q3, Raptive took over the ad brokerage for two of our community websites, and revenues increased by 40 percent during Q3 compared to Q2. We will switch to Raptive for all community websites at the turn of the year. The agreement means significantly improved terms, and we expect the partnership will increase revenues for M.O.B.A. We continue to add additional partners for direct ad sales in parallel.

 

Collaboration with Mediacube

During the quarter, a strategic collaboration with Mediacube Worldwide began to strengthen revenues in Union for Gamers (U.F.G.), the YouTube network that M.O.B.A. Network owns and operates. The partnership started on September 1 and will be fully integrated by the end of Q4. It aims to offer Mediacube's expertise in content creator services and to improve the operation of the YouTube network, thereby attracting more content creators, which increases our ad revenues. Mediacube has successfully begun optimizing the operational aspects of U.F.G. An important result is that a dedicated sales team with high targets is now active. The partnership also implies cost synergies, which will take full effect at the beginning of 2024. After launching the partnership, M.O.B.A. Network has seen an increase in the number of new content creators joining the network. These additions contribute with their varying content to broaden U.F.G.'s offerings.

Success for M.O.B.A. Networks' Fantasy Tournaments

The collaboration around Fantasy tournaments with E-GO App has been successful for a year and continues to meet high expectations. As this year's edition of Mobafire LoL Worlds Fantasy enters its final stage (the tournament concludes on November 19), we note that the number of participants exceeds previous records by over 300 percent. At the same time, newly developed services for participants, such as the ability to create leagues, have been very successful and led to significantly increased engagement from the community.

 

The Porofessor App

As a result of the acquisition of Wargraphs S.A.S, the quarter has been characterized by high activity and great popularity in the Porofessor app. In October, the app reached the milestone of 11 million downloads. However, ad sales in the app, managed by the platform Overwolf, have not met expectations and are performing worse than the general ad market. The explanation is that Overwolf's ad platform performed worse than expected during the quarter, while they previously were in line with the rest of the ad market. The most important parts of the joint action plan are:

-We have increased our marketing initiatives more towards the U.S.A., where ad revenues are the highest and users have the highest lifetime value, which provides growth in the long term. This work is done in cooperation with Overwolf.

-A new ad format has been developed and implemented in October, which is expected to lead to 15-20 percent higher revenues when fully implemented.

-We have increased collaboration with Overwolf around direct sales, where we have brought in ad partners for Overwolf, while Overwolf has also increased its focus on direct sales. Generally, in the ad market, we see more booked direct campaigns during the second half of Q4 than during all earlier quarters of the year. Direct campaigns yield significantly higher revenues than programmatic advertising.

-M.O.B.A. Network and Overwolf have taken measures to strengthen the position of programmatic sales by identifying more ad networks that can fill the space currently not filled with campaigns. The focus is on improving sales in specific European markets where our sales have historically been good.

 

The results currently indicate that the measures are having an effect. Revenues for Porofessor increased by 34 percent in October compared to September. The first half of November saw revenues increase by 38 percent compared to October. These results also include some positive seasonal effects. Continued work remains to reach our expected ad sales for Porofessor. Porofessor continues to have strong operational KPIs, and we assess that the conditions for turning around the ad business are reasonable, given the high user activity in the app.

 

Continued Investments for Growth Alongside Cost Savings

We continue to invest in the business and areas that will increase growth in the future. We have begun recruiting a central responsible for traffic to all our community websites to improve our long-term SEO work. To get started immediately with this work, we will work with a consultant during Q4 and expect to see results during Q1 2024. We have also begun developing a new app for the popular game Valorant with the founder of Porofessor. The new app can add a growing revenue source from Q2 2024. Valorant has, since its launch in June 2020, become one of the world's largest games, with an estimated 25 million active players per month. Valorant is developed by Riot, the game developer M.O.B.A. has the most experience developing products for.

 

We have initiated cost savings of 5 M.S.E.K. in the organization, which will take full effect in 2024. The cost savings are attributed to personnel leaving M.O.B.A. Network and reduced operating costs.

 

The Gaming Industry Continues to Attract Advertisers

We repeat our analysis in the last quarterly report regarding the ad market. The global economy has negatively affected the digital ad market, while inflation and interest rate levels have led to increased costs and lower margins.

 

In the long term, we are not worried about the digital ad market within gaming; forecasts show strong growth for digital ads, especially within gaming. However, certain quarters can be negatively affected by the uncertain macroeconomic situation. The gaming industry continues to have a strong attraction with a purchase-strong target group that advertisers otherwise find difficult to reach, and previous experiences show that when the market turns upward, it happens quickly. Our assessment of our assets is that they will continue to be strong and further developed.

 

M.O.B.A. is a Leading Consolidator of Gaming Communities

M.O.B.A. Network has a solid asset base with attractive market positions in several areas of operation within gaming. The Board is dedicated to ensuring the group is optimized for long-term value creation. Therefore, the company has initiated a strategic review of the group to increase organic growth and profitability in existing assets, among other objectives. Parts of this analysis have resulted in cost savings alongside growth-creating initiatives. The strategic review is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2024.

M.O.B.A. has had annual growth since its founding in 2018 and has always been profitable. We now continue to work towards the goal of consolidating our position in line with our long-term strategy:

 

-M.O.B.A. is a leading consolidator within gaming communities, a relatively untouched market within the computer game industry.

-M.O.B.A. invests in games with a long history and many players/fans, providing a positive network effect and strong SEO.

-M.O.B.A. aims to grow organically and through acquisitions and increase revenues exponentially with traffic volume.

 

We are working intensively during Q4 to significantly increase our revenues and implement the action plan we have begun. I want to take this opportunity to thank the group's employees, corporate management, the Board, and all shareholders.

 

Significant events DURING THE PERIOD

 

Significant events during the period 1 July 2023 – 30 September 2023, in brief

• The group signed a new advertising agreement with US-based Raptive, which operates a global advertising network and previously managed the advertising supply for the community websites operated by MOBA's subsidiary Magic Find. The agreement gives M.O.B.A. the ability to transfer additional community sites to the same enhanced terms over time as other contracts expire. The agreement provides significantly improved terms and will lead to increased earnings for M.O.B.A.
• The group entered a strategic partnership with Mediacube Worldwide with the intention of further strengthening the revenue of Union for Gamers (UFG), the Youtube network that M.O.B.A. Network owns and operates. Through this collaboration, the group will strengthen its role within gaming communities and content creators while benefiting from Mediacube's outstanding expertise in content creation and operation of YouTube networks (MCN).

Mediacube, a pioneering force in the Multi-Channel Network (MCN) realm, has taken significant steps towards optimizing income generation for content creators through its innovative service, MCPay. The collaboration will commence on September 1st and will involve Mediacube assisting in the operational aspects of Union for Gamers as per M.O.B.A. Network’s specifications. This change is geared towards delivering optimal technical solutions for content creators, including a dedicated sales team. The management anticipates that this change will attract new content creators and reduce churn within UFG. The collaboration is projected to lead to increased revenue while simultaneously generating cost savings within the existing structure.

Significant events after the period 1 July 2023 – 30 September 2023

• The implementation of the partnership with Mediacube Worldwide Inc. is progressing as planned. This enhances revenue opportunities and service offerings for Union For Gamers (UFG).

The integration of MCPay, Mediacube's financial service, offers greater flexibility and improved services for UFG's content creators, such as daily payouts, advance payments, and seamless transfers of funds to various cards, accounts, and e-wallets. This means an enhanced financial experience for content creators within the UFG network. We expect the integration to be fully completed during Q4.

Mediacube has successfully begun optimizing the operational aspects of UFG. A significant result of this optimization is that a dedicated sales team with ambitious goals is now operational. The partnership also brings about cost synergies, which will take full effect in 2024.

Following the partnership's launch, UFG has seen an increase in the number of new content creators joining the network. These additions contribute their diverse content and perspectives, broadening the range of UFG’s offerings.

Webcast

 

M.O.B.A. Network presents a webcast in regards to Interim report 3 2023, the webcast will be published on M.O.B.A’s website at 09.00 on 15 November 2023. Watch the webcast through the follwoing link: ​​https://wearemoba.com/investor-relations/investor-information/presentations/

 

 

 

This disclosure contains information that M.O.B.A Network AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 15-11-2023 07:30 CET.