Aspire Global is a leading B2B provider of iGaming solutions, offering partners all relevant products to operate a successful iGaming brand. It also owns/offers B2C online gaming brands, including Karamba. Aspire operates in 30 regulated markets across Europe, the US, South America and Africa.
Investment summary
Aspire Global (AG) has announced the proposed disposal of its B2C business. The sale will lead to AG becoming a focused B2B provider of iGaming solutions, which have recently generated higher rates of revenue growth and profitability than the B2C segment and therefore should be positive for AG’s valuation multiple. In addition, the resulting strong pro forma net cash position means AG is well placed to consider further M&A to extend its product and service offering, which has recently proven to be accretive to the group’s revenue growth profile and profitability. Our forecasts are unchanged ahead of the expected completion of the B2C transaction at the end of November 2021 and the Q321 results due on 4 November 2021. Our DCF-based valuation remains SEK110/share.
AG is exposed to favourable growth trends. First, the online gaming market is enjoying structural growth due to increasing global wealth, internet/mobile penetration and regulation. The geographic markets to which AG currently has some exposure are forecast to grow gross gaming revenue (GGR; ie customer wagers less their winnings) from US$37.6bn in 2019 to US$69.1bn by 2025 (source: H2 Gambling Capital). Secondly, online gaming markets are highly competitive with differing levels of regulation. These combine to make the operation of an online gaming brand challenging, particularly when working across many geographies.
