A key focus of the WCM International Small Cap Growth portfolio is to find quality global companies with durable, strengthening economic moats and corporate cultures aligned to this growth. An example of a company that demonstrates these characteristics is Kambi Group (Kambi).

With offices in seven global locations and more than 850 employees, Kambi is the leading independent provider of sports betting services to the regulated global betting and gaming industry.

In this Stock in Focus, Greg Ise of WCM Investment Management (WCM) explains how Kambi’s culture of focusing on the engineers, mathematicians and statisticians has resulted in a strong alignment with its customers.

Transcript

Tom Hickey (TH): Hello and welcome to this Stock in Focus update for the WCM International Small Cap Growth Fund. Today, I’m joined by Greg Ise from WCM Investment Management. Thank you for joining us, Greg.

Greg Ise (GI): Thank you, its a pleasure to be here.

TH: Today we’re talking about a company called Kambi Group. Can you explain what the business does?

GI: Kambi is European-based and one of the leading providers of B2B solutions going into the gambling industry. Essentially what Kambi does is provide the backend sports betting lines and solutions for third-party operators, in addition to the front-end solution that consumers are facing.

TH: What is the competitive advantage or the economic moat and how do you see it expanding over time?

GI: One of the biggest aspects around Kambi right now revolves around the United States and PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992) – the federal law prohibiting sports betting across the country has now been overturned. Now states one by one are legalising sports betting and this is resulting in front-facing consumer brands looking for a dependable partner to enable them to offer sports betting lines to consumers in a way that aligns to the front-end solutions.

TH: Regarding the culture within the organisation – how does that support that competitive advantages?

GI: Kambi is all about engineers, mathematicians and statisticians. This is all about calculating the best odds, the most calculated odds, such that its front-end consumer facing gambling sites can achieve the best win rates for themselves because ultimately, they are the ones who are taking the risk of losses. In that alignment, it works favourably for Kambi because of its take-rate model and therefore creates a very strong alignment with its customers.

TH: Thanks for your time, Greg.

GI: Thank you.