Sportradar interested in “adjacent business models” for group’s M&A pipeline
CFO Gerard Griffin says strong balance sheet puts firm in good stead but insists company is not in a “buying frenzy”
Sportradar chief financial officer Gerard Griffin has said the supplier would be interested in acquiring “adjacent business models” to complement its sports betting division.
Speaking at a USB Global Media and Communications Conference yesterday, 5 November, Griffin was asked what were the company’s plans on capital allocation, given the group is cash-flow positive.
As of 30 September, Sportradar’s total liquidity sat at €510m, comprising €290m in cash and cash equivalents and €220m in credit facility.
While the CFO said Sportradar had a “clean balance sheet” and that he was exploring buyback opportunities, he said further M&A could not be ruled out.
The Nasdaq-listed firm’s last acquisition was the undisclosed deal for AI-powered personalisation firm Vaix in April 2022.
Speaking to USB analyst Robin Farley, Griffin said that while the company was not in a “buying frenzy”, opportunities were always being explored.
He said: “We want to make sure we have the optionality to look at acquisitions if they make sense for the company.
“If you look at the existing incumbents, we’re not sitting on our laurels. There’s a lot of growth ahead of us, and we want to focus on that organically.
“If we see opportunities to bring talent or technology into the company; we’ll look at it.
“I think anything that can enhance our tech capability, whether its deep AI, video or accelerate some of the product development we are doing – that’s interesting,” he added.
Griffin said the firm would look outside of its core betting segment to add to its offerings, suggesting Vaix-style targets could be looked at again.
The CFO continued: “Over 80% of our business is in sports betting. The rest of it is advertising, intermediate services and sports integrity.
“While the strongest driver of our profitability is the betting side of the business, if we can find complementary areas to enhance that, that could be interesting.
“To be clear, we need to drive stronger fundamentals in terms of flow through. But we also do believe there’s opportunities from an acquisition point of view. We are well positioned that if the right things turn up.”
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