LiveScore recently released its full-year report for the period ending on March 31, 2023.
The report primarily focused on the company’s performance in three key areas: Virgin Bet, LiveScore Bet, and its sports media business.
In terms of revenue, gambling activities played a significant role, contributing £108.0 million, marking a remarkable increase of 57.3% compared to the previous year.
The remaining portion of the revenue, amounting to £21.6 million, came from advertising, showing a respectable growth of 17.7%.
LiveScore’s CEO, Sam Sadi, shared the company’s future aspirations with iGB in October 2023.
LiveScore is aiming to become the leading global sports media operator, shifting its focus away from being the number one betting operator.
Analyzing revenue by geographic location, the UK and Ireland accounted for the majority, totaling £100.3 million, representing a 40.0% increase.
Notably, LiveScore experienced a substantial surge in revenue in its Rest of Europe division, nearly tripling to £14.0 million, while the Rest of World division contributed the remaining £15.2 million.
During the year, LiveScore’s workforce expanded significantly, growing from 416 employees in 2022 to 492 in 2024.
Despite a cost of sales of £29.7 million, primarily attributed to gaming licenses, LiveScore reported a gross profit of £99.9 million, reflecting a yearly increase of 45.1%.
However, the company incurred losses due to distribution costs of £83.7 million, mainly driven by marketing expenditures, and administrative expenses that rose by 28.6% to £77.8 million.
This resulted in an operating loss of £61.7 million, although it marked an improvement of £8.1 million compared to 2022.
Further factors, such as the share of profit in associates and interest receivable, partially alleviated the loss by £334,577.
However, it was offset by interest repayable and similar expenses totaling £4.1 million, leading to a pre-tax loss of £65.5 million.
After applying a taxation of £88,883 to the loss, the total loss for the year amounted to £65.4 million, showcasing a 6.5% improvement year-on-year, as the company’s operating margin improved.
The EBITDA for the year showed a loss of £50.4 million, which was a 14.4% improvement compared to the EBITDA loss of £58.9 million in 2022.
To manage its financial obligations, LiveScore’s parent company, Anzo Group Limited, issued £38.6 million in shares during September and October 2022, effectively covering LiveScore’s remaining liabilities for the next 12 months.
In September 2023, Anzo Group’s shareholders created a loan facility of £20.0 million for LiveScore, marking a departure from their typical means of providing liquidity.
By December 2023, LiveScore had utilized £10 million of this loan facility.
Additionally, during the year, Ringier Sports Media Group AG invested £50 million in LiveScore, further strengthening the company’s financial position.