Acquisitions, diversification and investment in organic growth are doing the job at XLMedia (XLM). The digital marketing company, which specialises in advertising gambling through its own click-bait style websites, has announced that trading in the first half of the financial year is ahead of management expectations. The news sparked analyst upgrades and a 7 per cent share price leap.
Key to the company's strategy has been decreasing reliance on its gambling sales. These fell to 57 per cent of the top line in the six months to June, from 70 per cent in the same period last year. New revenue streams include gaming, mobile applications, e-commerce and finance, which have come from a number of bolt-on acquisitions. Most recently XL bought Securethoughts.com, a cyber security comparison website based in the US.
