Spark Networks, parent to online dating brands including Zoosk, Jdate, EliteSingles and Attractive World, has reported its earnings for the first half of 2019.
Revenue was €49.2 million, down 7.1% from €53.0 million in H1 2018, and Net Losses were €4.9 million, increasing by €3.8 million year-on-year.
The drop in revenue is attributed by the company to a 9% fall in Average Paying Subscribers year-on-year, with the figure falling from 489,000 to 444,900. This is offset slightly by a 2% increase in Monthly ARPU.
The increased losses, meanwhile, are attributed to “higher professional fees” related to the $258 million acquisition of Zoosk.
Adjusted EBITDA was €3.8 million in H1 2019, up €1.4 million year-on-year.
Zoosk was not included in this half year’s financials but, going forward, the brand will account for around 60% of revenues.
CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said: “With the completion of the Zoosk acquisition, 2019 is already the most transformational year in Spark’s history.
“The Zoosk brand is a great complement to our existing portfolio and we are working hard to execute against our integration plans to achieve our $15 million cost saving target. Beyond Zoosk, we remain focused on the North American market and on driving annual growth in Adjusted EBITDA.
“While International Revenue performed below our expectations due to temporary issues with a few marketing partners, I am pleased with our first half 2019 results in North America where we drove annual growth across every key performance indicator – registrations, paying subscribers, Monthly Average Revenue Per User, Revenue and Contribution.”
He continued: “I am very excited by what the future holds for Spark. We operate in a highly attractive industry and have built a large and cash generating business upon a foundation of strong brands. We now have both a leadership position in the North American market and a clear roadmap in place to capitalize on the assets we own. In the near-term, our roadmap is centered on continuing to right-size the business to secure our profitability goal of delivering over $50 million of Adjusted EBITDA in 2020.”
Spark Networks is set to appear at the GDI London Dating Conference 2019 alongside Once Dating Group, The Meet Group and Google.
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