Empire Global continues expansion through multiple acquisitions
7 Mar 2016
The company acquired 20 former ".com" and five competing ".it" operators at no cost. The locations, which reflect attained growth and continuing expansion opportunities in the Italian gaming market, are currently operating and will be immediately branded and operate under our Newgioco flag. In addition, the company has also implemented a revised corporate-wide commission schedule for agents and shops. The new incentive-based schedule is projected to save the company up to 50% in selling costs, which accounted for approximately $2.4 million in operating expenses for the first nine months of 2015.
"We continue to benefit from the forced consolidation in the Italian gaming market, and have now implemented a number of initiatives to boost our EBITDA and ensure that operating results reflect our main goal of increasing shareholder value," commented company CEO Michele Ciavarella. "Throughout 2015 we strengthened the competitive position of many of our locations and leveraged the unique growth opportunities presented by each of the acquisitions we made. Consistent with our focus to grow business both organically and by way of acquisitions throughout Italy, we have expanded our administrative capacity in Rome to prepare for locations we plan to add at the renewal in June. In addition, we have improved our current locations through marketing enhancements and installed a state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management System to monitor location-level operating performance and expenses in real-time."
"The business improvements and expansion executed by Empire in 2015 has made Multigioco one of the fastest growing operators in Italy. We will continue to fine tune our network while growing aggregate turnover, net gaming revenue margins and evaluating EBITDA growth versus operating expenses. To this end we, have responded with a new commission structure that will greatly benefit our overall operations and incentivize our agents," stated company President, Alessandro Marcelli. "Our non-GAAP turnover growth reached $50.1 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2015, while the investments and initiatives we put into action far exceeded our internal projections in Q4. We expect these investments to make a significant impact on our Q1 2016 results."
"As we are now well into 2016, we are confident that this growth trend will continue through this important license renewal year and are committed to improving our bottom line results and increasing shareholder value. Our focus on expansion, combined with practical expense management and robust market trends, position Empire Global to generate a year of impressive financial results," concluded Mr. Ciavarella.