NetEnt in strong shape after Q1

nt reported a series of year-on-year increases in its first quarter 2016 financial results.

The provider’s operating profit went up 57% to SEK 128.1m (£11.01m), while revenues ascended 33% to SEK 345.4m.

Profit after tax was SEK 121.7m, an upturn of 64%, and operating margin was 37.1%, up from 31.7%.

Earnings per share was SEK 3.04 after dilution and increased from SEK 1.86.

These results do not come as too much of a surprise when taking into account the company’s recent expansion.

NetEnt’s online casino content was launched by PokerStars in New Jersey in March, a state where NetEnt has partnerships in place with all i-gaming licensees after being granted a transactional waiver by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to operate in the state, where it launched in September.

Nine new licence agreements were signed in the quarter and eight new customers’ casinos were launched.

Given that NetEnt was not operating in New Jersey in the first quarter of last year, a market which itself generated online casino win of $38.2m for Q1 2016, the comparison is slightly disjointed, but the results are a sign of gradual progress as NetEnt increases its footprint among the industry’s highest-profile providers.