Meridian Holdings

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Golden Matrix Group's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call. We appreciate you joining us today. On today's call are Brian Goodman, CEO of Golden Matrix Group, Zoan Milosevic, CEO of MeridianBet, Rich Christensen, CFO of Golden Matrix Group, Brian and Zoran will provide an operational and strategic update, while Rich will walk through our financial performance and capital allocation strategy. At the conclusion of this call, the recording and support resources will be available on Golden Matrix Group's IR website. As a reminder, today's call will contain forward-looking statements. Certain statements made on this conference call including our responses to questions, may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements are based on various assumptions about future events, including market and economic conditions, business prospects, technological developments, and regulatory changes. While we believe these assumptions are reasonable, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For a complete discussion of these factors, please refer to our most recent 10-K filing and other public disclosures. Non-GAAP measures will be discussed, and reconciliation of these numbers can also be found in our recently filed 10-K and earnings press release available on our website. I will now hand it over to Brian Goodman, CEO of Golden Matrix Group.

Thank you, and welcome, everyone. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss Golden Matrix Group's fourth quarter and full year financial results for 2024, and to share updates on our strong growth momentum and market expansion. Joining me today are Zoran Milosevic, CEO of MeridianBet, who will discuss MeridianBet's performance, and Rich Christensen, our new CFO, who will provide a detailed overview of our financial results and capital strategy. Today's discussion will focus on operational highlights, marketing expansion and strategic execution, divisional performance, financial results, and capital allocation. And lastly, our 2025 outlook. starting with operational and marketing expansion updates. 2024 has been a transformational year for Golden Matrix, reflecting broad-based growth, strong execution, and continued momentum as we scale our iGaming and online sports betting operations globally. Despite a high competitive landscape, we have a distinct advantage. provided by our diversity, increasing global footprint, state-of-the-art technology, AI-driven product enhancements, and customer acquisition efficiencies, which have strengthened our market position, revenues, and profitability. Additionally, our strategic acquisitions of Meridian Bets and Classics for a Cause have enhanced our brand value expanded our revenue base, and reinforced our competitive positioning in high-growth, high-gaming markets. Financial year 2024 has also been a year of unprecedented scalability, driven by our next-gen technology and AI-powered optimization tools. As we continue to expand our footprint in high-growth, regulated markets, we remain well positioned to capitalize on digital megatrends, increase player acquisition efficiency, and solidify our leadership in the global iGaming and Sportsbook ecosystem. We are pleased to have Rich Christensen join us as our CFO. Rich is a seasoned finance executive with over 25 years of experience in corporate finance, capital markets, M&A, and financial operations at multi-billion dollar companies, most recently at True Blue Incorporation. He led global finance, accounting, and treasury functions, implementing global cloud-based ERP technology and drove strategic restructuring initiatives as well as financial automation. I'll now hand you over to Rich to discuss our financial performance and capital strategy.

Thank you, Brian, and thank you for the kind words. I look forward to working with you and your team to drive profitable growth, enhance our internal and external customer service, and partner with our operations teams to create value. Good morning, everyone. I'm excited to be part of Golden Matrix Group and to present our fiscal 2024 financial results. and capital allocation strategy. This has been a transformational year with strong revenue growth, disciplined cost management, and exciting developments in our product portfolios. Our focus remains on profitability, operational efficiency, and maximizing shareholder value. First, let's go to the financial performance for fiscal 2024. Revenue grew by 63% to $151 million. Our organic revenue growth rate was 17%, reflecting strong contributions from all of our businesses. Gross profit increased 30% year-over-year to $89 million, supported by our higher margin gaming products and AI-driven customer engagement. Net income declined 111% year-over-year to a net loss of $1.5 million. primarily due to the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of $4.5 million, stock-based compensation of $4.7 million, interest expense of $3.5 million, and restructuring expense of $2.2 million. Adjusting for these costs, adjusted EBIT arose 4% to $22.2 million. Turning to the fourth quarter, revenue grew by 81% to $46 million. with an organic revenue growth rate accelerating to 20%. Gross profit also improved in the fourth quarter, increasing by 45% year-over-year to 26.8 million, demonstrating improving profitability as our offerings continue to scale. Net income declined 207% year-over-year to a net loss of 2 million, primarily due to acquisition-related interest expense of 2.7 million, amortization of 1.5 million, and restructuring costs of 1.2 million, as well as stock-based compensation of 1.5 million. Adjusting for these costs, adjusted EBITDA grew 69% to 6.5 million, demonstrating strong operating leverage as we finish the year. We continue to have a strong balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents stood at 30 million, reflecting healthy liquidity and financial flexibility. and our net debt leverage ratio of 1.8 positions us for continued investment in high growth opportunities. These results demonstrate our ability to scale efficiently while delivering profitable growth. We remain committed to deploying capital in a disciplined manner to support first, our strategic growth initiatives by expanding into high value gaming verticals and new geographies. Second, Our technology innovation through investing in AI-driven personalization and live betting experiences. Third, operational efficiencies from expanding margins and leveraging cost synergies across acquisitions and creating operating leverage. And, of course, maximizing shareholder returns through maintaining a balanced approach to our use of free cash flow and leverage to support growth, invest in our offerings, and reduce net interest and cash taxes paid. With a strong balance sheet and positive free cash flow, we are well positioned to drive sustainable growth and maximize long-term shareholder value. I will now hand you back to Brian Goodman to discuss divisional performance. Brian.