Astralis releases ‘satisfactory’ 2023 financial results

Danish esports company Astralis has shared its audited financial results for 2023, a year in which the company delisted from NASDAQ and sold its LEC franchise slot.

Astralis recorded an overall positive EBITDA of DKK 146.7m (~£16.8m) and a revenue of DKK 72.3m (~£8.3m), which the company described as a “satisfactory” performance in a statement.

The report, shared by Astralis and audited and reviewed by Danish accounting company Bdo, saw Astralis record a slight decrease in revenue when compared to 2022 (DKK 72.3m compared to DKK 87.5m). However, it saw a substantial increase in EBITDA profit, which jumped from DKK 2.5m (~£300,000) in 2022 to DKK 146m (~£16.7m) in 2023.

The company’s profit for the year before tax was DKK 137m (~£15.7m). In a release, Astralis noted that its net revenue was roughly in the middle of financial guidance it had received, while its EBITDA was below the guidance and pre-tax profit was in line with expectations.

The jump in pre-tax profit and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is likely the result of Astralis selling a majority share of its LEC slot to Karmine Corp last year for a total of DKK 129m (~£14.8m). The company still owns a minority share in the Karmine Corp-owned company that holds the slot, but is not involved in daily operations.

In 2023, Astralis also divested its position as majority owner of PIXEL.TV, a company it acquired in early 2022. On May 16th 2023, Astralis sold 41% of the ownership share in PIXEL.TV ApS and the remaining 10% ownership was sold on 13 February 2024, according to the financial report.

The cash reserves for the company stand at around DKK 7.5m (~£860,000), compared to DKK 9.9m (~£1.1m) in 2022. The value of Astralis’ overall assets has also increased from DKK 99m (~£11.3m) to DKK 231m (~£26.5m), while the overall number of employees decreased from an average of 77 in 2022 to an average of 60 in 2023.

Copenhagen, Denmark-based Astralis is one of the most notable European esports organisations, arguably best known for its dominance in CS:GO between 2017 and 2019. The company was among the first esports teams in Europe to be publicly listed, joining the NASDAQ First North Growth Markets in 2019.

The company said it delisted from NASDAQ last year because its share price had dropped significantly and the public listing was providing little value for the company and its shareholders. Astralis claimed at the time that delisting will save approximately DKK 2m (~£230,000) in direct costs and around DKK 1m (~£110,000) in annual indirect costs.

“The result for 2023 is overall satisfactory following the sale of our franchise rights in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) and despite the underlying difficulties in the market and our teams’ general performance in 2023,” Astralis’ report read.