Thread by @Tobias222225

1) Play Magnus Group Q1 $PMG
• Bookings up 221% Y/Y to $5.3m
• Rev up 301% Y/Y to $4.6m
• Monthly paying users up 113% Y/Y to 58.7k
• ARPU up 50% Y/Y to $17.6
• New bookings target $21-$23m (previous guidance $19-21m & $14-16m)
• Cash position of $33.5m
• EBITDA -$2.5m

2) Breaking down the growth, we see that inorganic bookings only accounts for $0.9m whereas organic bookings growth accounts for the remaining $2.8m (168%) growth. Interesting is that repeat & recurring revenue from subscriptions and courses is up 115%

3) The tour is progressing as planned. In addition a six-year deal has been signed with FIDE for a Chessable Youth Academy, and broadcasting rights for the World Chess Championships and other major events for Chess24 (have written about this before)

#Chess #FIDE $chess #pmg

4) Mid-season the tour has reached 78m live views and there is a 58% increase in daily active users during tour days on Chess24. The tour is on its way to break even earlier than planned, especially with new tour partnerships while working as an excellent marketing tool

5) The Julies Baer Challengers Chess Tour was launched to provide juniors the chance to participate in the tour. It also encourages young women around the world to compete in chess. The winner of each challenger qualifies for the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour

6) The creation of content is progressing very well according to management, the aim of pushing localized content is underway with Spanish courses launched where the use of these service is showing a healthy trend going into the quarter. Courses in German is underway

7) AimChess was acquired in May. It’s a personalized chess analytics site based on users’ gameplay, it has a consistently growing user base seen below with recurring revenue growth. I suspect many synergies with existing services are possible with this additional platform

8) Core KPIs continue to look undoubtedly strong in the quarter, especially considering that Q1 has no beneficial seasonality effects. One can argue that lockdown has had beneficial effects, and we will see whether growth slows down in Q2 and Q3

9) Monthly paying users up 113% to 58.7k, New In Chess and iChess contributing to around 8k users, meaning that organic growth was the remaining 6k users. This is in contrast to the 31.8k users the company had when going public last fall

10) ARPU is growing 50% up Y/Y, but slightly down from Q4 which due to seasonality and more growth coming from the Play Magnus App which has lower ARPU vs other services

11) A very strong quarter and it will be interesting to see if the company can keep it up in the coming quarters. Trading at 4.6x 21e sales (debt-free) when deducting the cash balance from the mcap. The thesis depends on the company's ability to scale to profitability when needed

12) "Momentum into Q2 is looking good for all of our businesses. We're already two-thirds into the quarter and have high visibility, and the courses, user growth, and the tour are all going the right way. We are very confident which is why we could raise the guidance" - Thome CEO

13) "As we have said before we do think that by the end of next year we'll be able to reach a break-even run-rate. [...] We haven't given a precise number, but I can say that we are becoming more confident that we're on the path for that." Schneider, CFO