Nektan has had a successful end to 2016, having raised £2.3 Million from its shareholders during the period between Christmas and New Year. Although this is good news for the company in the short term, Nektan have revealed that they will continue to seek further routes of financing into 2017. The hunt for further financing has come about after the company’s annual results statements showed operating losses rise to £8.3 Million. This is an increase over 2015’s operating losses which reached £7.2 Million.
The amount of funding required went unmentioned in the notes to its annual results, but the notes do make mentioned of a further asset sale being a possibility, although the likelihood of this are unknown in light of Nektan’s recent cash rise and the arrangement for a deferral of interest on a collaterised loan.
Nektan Searching For Financing In 2017
Cash resources for Nektan had dwindled to £100,000 before the new cash raise at the tail end of 2016. Last year, up until June, Nektan had already issued a total of £6.4 Million new shares. The requirement for additional funding also isn’t helped by the issue of a put option which is held by Betfred, Nektan’s partner company. Betfred had earlier teamed up with Nektan for a marketing services joint venture, which could cost Nektan up to £4 million if it comes to fruition.
Nektan Casino were looking strong up until June 2016, having report a new gaming revenue rise up to £5.8 Million. Q1 2017 saw their new gaming revenue rise to £2.1 Million, up to from £0.5 Million in the same period of the year before. The number of first time depositors to their casino platform more than doubled during the 3 months of the Q1 2017 period, rising from 6,500 users, to 14,000 users.
Along with increasing first time depositors, Nektan have also seen a sharp increase in the number of casinos using their proprietary software. For the first half of 2016, Nektan had added 29 new customers to its platform, as well as 110 additional games from suppliers such as IGT, NetEnt and SciGames.
Nektan Looking On The Bright Side
Nektan have had a lot of ups and downs throughout 2016. The first half of the year was met with a significant increase in player numbers, games and casino operators hosting its proprietary software. The second half of 2016 was met with less success, however, the final burst of cash resources towards the end of 2016 shows that Nektan still has some pulling power going into 2017, as well as some very optimistic shareholders.
With Q1 2017 already showing an increase in new gaming revenue, the remainder of the year is looking optimistic for Nektan after a very rocky preceding six month period. Nektan is far from over and the increasing numbers of casinos taking on Nektan software, is not only a good sign for Nektan themselves, but also fans of the Nektan platform.
