Azerion publishes solid financials, driven by M&A and Metaverse

Highlights of Q4 2022

• Delivery of 2022 targets. Full year 2022 Net revenue of EUR 453 million (guidance of at least EUR 450 million), with Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 52 million (guidance of at least EUR 50 million), reflecting almost 10% organic growth in 2022.
• Record performance in the Platform segment, driving Q4 2022 Net revenue of EUR 149 million, up from EUR 126 million in Q4 2021. Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 22 million, up by 14% compared to Q4 2021, reflecting improved platform efficiencies.
• 2023 outlook of around EUR 560 million Net revenue and at least EUR 75 million Adjusted EBITDA.
  
• Highest direct sales results across the group, demonstrating the added value of local teams working hand in hand with clients to successfully advertise to their audiences. 
• Additional integrations with automated platforms such as Amazon DSP and Google Audience targeting, increasing our revenue from programmatic advertising.
• Entered high-growth digital audio, enabling audio ad formats across the platform through the acquisition of Radionomy (Targetspot and Shoutcast).
• Strengthened our position in the Metaverse by creating more partnerships with brands such as DB Sports and successfully selling out a collection of 1,300 unique rooms in Habbo X.

Co-CEO Umut Akpinar said:
“This quarter we continued improving our Platform and expanding our geographical presence to gain market share and harvest the benefits of scale in 2023. We focused on helping our clients achieve better results for their campaigns through differentiated, engaging and innovative ad formats. We continued integrating our past acquisitions and optimising costs, and expect to generate annualised savings of over EUR 10 million in 2023. This strong performance has allowed us to achieve our financial targets for 2022 and gives us confidence to update our guidance for 2023 and beyond.”
Co-CEO Atilla Aytekin said:
“In 2022 we completed strategic acquisitions and simplified our reporting structure. Looking ahead, we will focus on growing our Platform capabilities, whilst balancing our growth with a prudent financial framework. We will remain actively working on our M&A pipeline and as we target a capital structure that is more aligned with market practice, we announced the intention to cancel the majority of our treasury shares. In addition, we will also increase our focus on deleveraging our balance sheet in 2023. ”

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Our Premium Games segment includes social games and metaverse, comprising nine premium game titles. The segment generates revenue mainly by offering users the ability to make in-game purchases for extra features and virtual goods to enhance their gameplay experience. The aim of this segment is to stimulate social interaction among players and build communities, offering an extended value proposition to advertisers and generating cross-selling opportunities with the Platform segment. 

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