Tapinator Announces 2019 Record Financial Results

NEW YORK, March 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tapinator, Inc. (OTC: TAPM), a developer and publisher of category leading apps for mobile platforms, today announced unaudited financial results for the period ended December 31, 2019, and the filing of its annual report for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.  The annual report and financial statements may be found at http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/TAPM/disclosure. The results provided below replace, in its entirety, any guidance or projections previously issued by the Company.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, Tapinator achieved record revenue of approximately $3.8 million, bookings^* of approximately $3.3 million, adjusted bookings^* of approximately $3.3 million, net loss of approximately $2.4 million, and adjusted EBITDA^* of approximately $176,000.  The Company's revenue, bookings^*, adjusted bookings^*, and adjusted EBITDA^* represent year-over-year improvements of 31%, 0%, 17% and 40%, respectively.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2019, Tapinator achieved revenue of approximately $0.8 million, bookings^* and adjusted bookings^* of $0.8 million, net loss of approximately $0.9 million and adjusted EBITDA^* loss of approximately $38,000. The Company's quarterly revenue, bookings^* and adjusted bookings^* represent year-over-year changes of 38%, 20% and 20%, respectively. 

^*A table has been included in this press release with non-GAAP adjustments to the Company's revenue resulting in bookings (a non-GAAP measure) and adjusted bookings (a non-GAAP measure) and non-GAAP adjustments to the Company's net loss, resulting in positive adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) for the relevant periods.

Financial Highlights

Ilya Nikolayev, CEO of Tapinator commented, "In 2019, we continued to grow our Category Leading Apps business and, in particular, we are proud of the significant strides that we have made with our Live Operations (or "Live Ops") capabilities. These LiveOps initiatives have resulted in strong improvements to the monetization of our daily active users and increases to our average revenue per daily active user. We are continuing to invest in LiveOps in 2020 with a new and improved Store that just recently launched in Video Poker Classic as well as new limited time events.

With regards to upcoming launches, we are very excited about our new game, SPEED – Heads Up Solitaire. SPEED is a synchronous, heads-up card game where users compete with real players around the globe, in real time. The gameplay is based on a game that is proven in the real world and we believe that the metagame, social functionality, and virtual currency system that we have built will translate into strong retention and monetization metrics. From a timing perspective, this week we are opening up a limited beta to investors of the Company and we will be soft launching the game, within a limited number of countries, later this month.

On a macro level, given the uncertainty surrounding the current Coronavirus situation, we believe that people are increasingly seeking entertainment that they can experience from the safety of their home. Our mobile game offerings fill this need. In fact, our mission is to offer players social casino entertainment anytime, anywhere. We believe that "social" play from the user's mobile device will become increasingly compelling given the current climate. Our upcoming game, SPEED, is a great example of a product that is traditionally played between friends and family in the real world yet can now be played anytime, anywhere as a truly heads-up, social game."

Andrew Merkatz, President & CFO of Tapinator, also commented on the Company's results, "We are enthused about the following accomplishments in 2019:

• We achieved record annual revenue of $3.8mm and reported revenue growth of 31%
• We reported annual Bookings^* and Adjusted Bookings^* growth within our core Category Leading Apps Business of 35% and 91%, respectively
• We reported annual company-wide adjusted Bookings growth of 17%
• We reported annual adjusted EBITDA growth of 40% year-over-year
• We made significant investment in our LiveOps capability yielding substantial monetization improvements in certain core games, an investment we believe crucial to the long-term success of our Category Leading Apps strategy.

The mobile game industry is expected to generate $100 billion in revenue in 2020, up from $86 billion in 2019, according to App Annie, the mobile data and analytics researcher.  Based on the report, games are now 72% of all spending in the app stores. Mobile games saw 25% more spending than all other games combined in 2019. Mobile game spending was 2.4 times the spending for PC and Mac games, and 2.9 times spending for home game consoles in 2019.  Tapinator has become a seasoned operator in this massive and lucrative market, and we believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver strong growth and product leadership in the coming years."

Current Outlook
We continue to have conviction regarding our Category Leading Apps business, and specifically our focus on social casino games. The strategic changes we implemented in 2017-2018, shifting from Rapid-Launch Games to Category Leading Apps, now appear to be paying off. While we are not providing financial guidance at this time, we believe we are well positioned to again deliver strong company-wide revenue and adjusted bookings growth in 2020. This growth is expected to be derived from our seasoned franchises such as Video Poker Classic and Solitaire Derby, combined with upcoming game launches such as Castle Builder and SPEED.    Based on the Company's strong financial performance over the past twelve months, the repeatable nature of the Company's Category-Leading App revenues, its strong product pipeline, its significant operating leverage, and its attractive market positioning at the intersection of mobile entertainment and online casino style gaming, we believe Tapinator is currently fundamentally and deeply undervalued.  The Company's management and independent board of directors are committed to working diligently and prudently on behalf of all of its shareholders to both grow and unlock this value in 2020 and beyond.

*Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We have provided in this release the non-GAAP financial measures of Bookings and adjusted EBITDA, as a supplement to the measures of Revenue and Operating Income, which are prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Management uses Bookings and adjusted EBITDA internally in analyzing our financial results to assess operational performance and liquidity. The presentation of Bookings and adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to Bookings and adjusted EBITDA in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods. We believe Bookings and adjusted EBITDA are useful to investors because it allows for greater transparency with respect to key financial metrics we use in making operating decisions and because our investors and analysts use them to help assess the health of our business. Below, we have provided reconciliations between our historical and projected Bookings and adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures below.  Some limitations of Bookings and adjusted EBITDA are as follows:

• Bookings does not reflect that we defer and recognize online game revenue over the estimated life of durable virtual goods;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not include the impact of stock-based expense, impairment of previously capitalized software or intangible assets previously acquired, acquisition-related transaction expenses, one-time financing expenses, contingent consideration fair value adjustments and restructuring expense;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax expense;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not include other income or expense, which includes foreign exchange gains and losses and interest income or expense;
• Adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization of intangible assets and impairment of capitalized software.  Although depreciation and amortization and impairment of capitalized software are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized or impaired may have to be replaced in the future; and
• Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently or not at all, which will reduce their usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, you should consider Bookings and adjusted EBITDA along with other financial performance measures, including Revenue, Net Income (Loss), Diluted Net Income (Loss) Per Share, Cash Flow from Operations, Operating Income (Loss) and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results

About Tapinator
Tapinator Inc. (OTC: TAPM) develops and publishes category leading apps for mobile platforms, with a focus on social casino games. Tapinator's library includes more than 300 titles that, collectively, have achieved over 500 million mobile downloads, including notable properties such as Video Poker Classic and Solitaire Derby. Tapinator generates revenues through the sale of branded advertising and via consumer transactions, including in-app purchases and subscriptions. Founded in 2013, Tapinator is headquartered in New York, with product development and marketing teams located in North America, Europe and Asia. Consumers can find high-quality mobile entertainment wherever they see the 'T' character logo, or at http://tapinator.com.

Forward Looking Statements
To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Tapinator, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "goal," "plan," "feel," "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "target," and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, our belief that SPEED's metagame, social functionality, and virtual currency system that we have built will translate into strong retention and monetization metrics, our belief that that people are increasingly seeking entertainment that they can experience from the safety of their home as a result of the uncertainty resulting from the Coronavirus, our belief that "social" play from the user's mobile device will become increasingly compelling given the current climate created by the Coronavirus, our belief we are well positioned to continue to deliver strong growth and product leadership in the coming years, our belief we are well positioned to again deliver strong company-wide revenue and adjusted bookings growth in 2020 from our seasoned franchises such as Video Poker Classic and Solitaire Derby as well upcoming game launches such as Castle Builder and SPEED and our belief that we are currently fundamentally and deeply undervalued. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Tapinator undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. The quoting and trading of the Company's common stock on the OTC Marketplace is often thin and characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors that may have little to do with the Company's operations or business prospects. As a result, there may be volatility in the market price of the shares of the Company's common stock for reasons unrelated to operating performance. Moreover, the OTC Marketplace is not a stock exchange, and trading of securities on it is often more sporadic than trading of securities listed on a national securities exchange. Accordingly, stockholders may have difficulty reselling any of their shares. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the Company, please see the Company's Supplemental Information Report filed with the OTC Markets as provided here:
https://backend.otcmarkets.com/otcapi/company/financial-report/241817/content.

SOURCE Tapinator, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tapinator.com