ator Unibet has announced a good start to the year in its Q1 interim report.

The firm's profit before tax was £16.5m for the period January-March, up 44.7% on the same period last year. After tax the figures were £15.3m for 2014 and £10.6m for 2013 ̶ an increase of 44.3%.

Gross winnings revenue was up 13.9% year-on-year to £67.6m, while EBITDA increased 24% to £21.3m.

Henrik Tjarnstrom, CEO of Unibet, said the report showed "new all-time highs for Unibet in active customers, GWR, EBITDA and profit after tax".

Tjarnstrom attributed this to "strong organic growth" and a sports betting margin of 8%.

He said: "The mobile channel continued to develop strongly in the quarter and represented 31% of total gross winnings revenue.”

He added that sports betting turnover is up by 18% and casino gross winnings by 15% (26% and 23% respectively when measured in local currencies) for the period to 27 April 2014.