London-based XLMedia stated in the trading report that it will be unlikely to achieve the $130m in revenue which they had previously predicted, lower than the $137m generated in the previous year, with a similar impact expected to their EBITDA and profit before tax.
The news was not received well by investors, with shares in the company currently trading at 26.6% below their value at the start of the day.
The trading update claimed that a shifting focus towards higher margin business and the ceasing of lower margin media activities where in part to blame for the lowered revenue expectation.
The major regulatory development which affected XLMedia during last year was the closure of their Australian market at the end of 2017. The company also claimed that the uncertainty surrounding regulations in European markets emerging in 2018 exacerbated their problems.
There were some positives to emerge from the trading update such as the company’s reaffirmed commitment to the US sports betting market opportunities following the repeal of PASPA. With XLMedia confirming that they “have accelerated efforts to ensure we are well positioned to service operators who will be active in the market”.
XLMedia also released a ‘Director Share Purchase’ announcement which notified that Ory Weihs, the company’s CEO, had purchased 256,787 ordinary shares at an average price of $1.59 per share. The new purchase means that Weihs now has a total of 4,471,974 shares representing 2.03% of the current issued share capital of XLMedia.
