Evolution, the biggest global supplier of live dealer software and content, has reported a significant year-on-year increase in revenue and profit for 2020, as more customers turned to online gaming amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The company’s total revenue for the 12 months of last year amounted to 561.1 million euros, which represents an increase of 53.4 percent compared to the 365.9 million earned during the previous year.
Evolution revealed that the increased revenues come from larger commissions from clients, but also as a result of the company’s acquisition of video slot developer NetEnt. The merger was finalised at the beginning of December 2020, and the combined business resulted in increased revenues for the final month of the year.
About the acquisition, Martin Carlesund, Chief Executive Officer at Evolution, said: “Through the acquisition of NetEnt, we add a second vertical to our unrivalled live casino offer and two strong and fantastic new brands to our product portfolio. This makes us well placed for our long-term ambition of taking a leading global position in online casinos.”
As for spending, Evolution had operating expenses of 261.4 million euros in 2020, up 25.5 percent from 2019. However, most of the increase was driven by the company’s expenses related to the NetEnt acquisition, a huge deal worth around 2.3 billion dollars.
Nevertheless, Evolution recorded an operating profit of almost 300 million euros and the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was 351.6 million euros, almost double compared to 2019.
Profit before tax was 298.7 million euros, a significant 89.9% increase compared to 2019. The company had to pay just over 14.1 million euros in income tax, which means the net profit at the end of 2020 was 283.6 million euros.