Hacksaw Says Q3 Revenue Growth Slowed to 11% to 12%, Well Short of Its 30% Target

The Stockholm-listed slots supplier expects third-quarter revenue of about EUR 57.5 million to EUR 58.5 million, which would be less than it reported for the second quarter, and blames softer markets and weaker game performance. Its shares fell 27% in early trading.

• Hacksaw AB expects Q3 2026 revenue of approximately EUR 57.5 million to EUR 58.5 million, up about 11 to 12% on EUR 52.0 million a year earlier, according to a preliminary, unaudited update issued on 12 October
• The range sits below the EUR 59.3 million it reported for Q2, which would be its first quarter-on-quarter revenue fall in at least two years of reported figures
• Adjusted EBIT is expected at about EUR 48 million to EUR 49 million, a margin of about 83%, and the company says its long-term targets, including annual revenue growth above 30%, are unchanged
• Hacksaw attributes the slowdown to softer market conditions and game performance that was lower than in its recently reported periods, and gives no market-by-market breakdown
• The shares fell 27% in early trading, according to Nyhetsbyrån Direkt, ahead of the full Q3 report due on 3 November

Hacksaw Flags a Sharp Slowdown Three Weeks Before Its Report

Hacksaw AB, the B2B slots and instant-win supplier listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, published the update at 00:50 CEST on Monday as inside information under the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Total revenue for the three months to 30 September is expected to be approximately EUR 57.5 million to EUR 58.5 million, against EUR 52.0 million in Q3 2025, an increase of about 11 to 12%. The figures are preliminary and unaudited.

Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) is expected at approximately EUR 48 million to EUR 49 million, up from EUR 42.1 million, an increase of about 14 to 16%, with an adjusted margin of about 83% against 81% a year earlier. The company did not give constant-currency growth, the number of games released or the number of deals signed in the quarter, all of which its interim reports normally carry.

Hacksaw says growth was below its historical pace and "moderated during the period, reflecting softer market conditions and game performance that was lower than during Hacksaw's recently reported periods". It adds that, as a content business, its performance will vary between periods, and that its long-term financial targets remain unchanged. Group CEO Ana Vrabic Verdir described commercial momentum as strong; the interim report is expected on 3 November.

From 39% to 11% in a Year

On Hacksaw's own reports, Q3 2025 revenue grew 39%. In Q1 2026 revenue rose 28% to EUR 57.6 million, or 37% at constant currency, and in Q2 it rose 31% to EUR 59.3 million, or 33% at constant currency. Those reports also show revenue rising quarter on quarter in each of the seven quarters to June, from EUR 43.7 million in Q4 2024, by iGaming Times' calculation from the full-year and nine-month figures. The new range of EUR 57.5 million to EUR 58.5 million is between 1.3% and 3.0% below Q2, and at its midpoint roughly level with Q1.

The quarter also followed a change at the top. On 30 April the board released Christoffer Källberg, who had led the company's June 2025 listing on Nasdaq Stockholm's large cap list, and appointed board member Vrabic Verdir as interim CEO, saying it wanted to align further with the group's strategic direction. She was made permanent on 20 August. Hacksaw's shares were priced at SEK 77, approximately $8, in that IPO, which valued it at about EUR 2.0 billion, according to its pricing announcement.

Monday's reaction was much harsher than July's, when the stock fell about 8% in early trading after a Q2 report that Citi said had missed revenue expectations, according to EFN.

The Margin Is Intact; the Growth Story Is Not

The most important number in the update is not the 83% margin but the sequential decline. Hacksaw's case as a listed company rests on a long-term target of revenue growth above 30% a year, published on its investor site alongside an EBIT margin above 80% and an aim of returning at least 75% of net profit. It is comfortably meeting the margin target and is now a long way short of the growth one, yet says neither has changed. Adjusted EBIT roughly matching Q2's EUR 48.4 million on lower revenue suggests adjusted costs fell in the quarter, but the update does not say why. An 83% margin absorbs a soft quarter easily; what the share fall suggests investors are repricing is the assumption that a hit-driven slots catalogue compounds at 30%. The full report needs to show whether older titles faded or new ones failed to land.

Softer Markets Is the Part Worth Testing

Hacksaw does not say which markets softened. The nearest listed comparison is Evolution, itself the target of an unsolicited bid from Candle Lake, whose RNG revenue rose 14% to EUR 80.5 million in Q2 while group net revenue fell 1.2%, according to its report; its Q3 figures are not yet out. Brazil is the obvious next question, though for the fourth quarter rather than the third. Hacksaw announced a partnership with Brazino777 on 4 September, when Marcus Cordes, operational CEO of Hacksaw Gaming, called the pace of its growth in Brazil fantastic, and Brazil's ban on fixed-odds betting and online casino took licensed sites offline from 6 October, after the quarter closed, as listed groups have been counting the cost. Hacksaw does not disclose Brazilian revenue, and the update does not mention the country. New openings such as Alberta, where Hacksaw won supplier approval in July and operators such as Stake are only now targeting launch, and its first crash game, Moneyplane, launched on 7 September, are too recent to have moved the quarter much.

On margins, Hacksaw remains among the most profitable suppliers in the sector, and nothing in a preliminary update changes that. What it has lost is the record of uninterrupted quarterly growth, and 3 November will show whether that was a quarter or a trend.