Global Gaming to cut workforce by 50% as Sweden struggles hit home
Sweden-headquartered operator’s Q2 revenues drop 42% in “most turbulent and difficult” period ever
Global Gaming will look to reduce its employee headcount by up to 50% by the end of 2019 as the Sweden-headquartered operator restructures its business following the loss of its Sweden licence.
The firm currently employs 190 people, a mix of 40 consultants and 150 employees, but this will be reduced to between 90-100 people to cut costs.
In addition to the employee cuts, Global Gaming’s Swedish technology office will be completely shut down over the remainder of 2019.
Details of the job cuts were revealed in the company’s Q2 2019 revenue report, which showed a 42% year-on-year drop in company revenues during the period, as revenues fell to SEK132.2m (£122.1m).
As a result of the revenue fall, operating profits dropped from over SEK41m during Q2 2018 to an operating loss of SEK11.1m during Q2 2019.
Global Gaming CEO Tobias Fagerlund said the last three months had been “the most turbulent and difficult” in the history of the company.
Fagerlund highlighted previous organisational and personnel changes, as well as a series of “corrective measures” which the company believed would return it to revenue growth.
“When we got to the month of June, we positively thought we could realistically expect to be back into black figures already in the second quarter, thus achieving the intended turnaround,” Fagerlund said.
However, Global Gaming was stripped of its Swedish licence in the same month, prompting a legal appeal from the firm which has still not been resolved.
Speaking about the impact of the decision, Fagerlund said most of the company’s revenues had been “wiped out”, leading to adverse reactions from its supplier partners.
He said the company is now “hard at work” defining the future strategy of Global Gaming, asserting it will be doing everything in its power to be active in Sweden. This has included a marketing agreement with Finnplay which has culminated in the launch of the NanoCasino.com brand.
Although the firm is concentrating on this, Fagerlund said the company needs to adopt a “much broader approach” in the future.