Spark Networks Reports 1st Quarter 2023 Results.

BERLIN: Spark Networks SE (NASDAQ: LOV) (the "Company"), a leading social dating platform for meaningful relationships, today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Chelsea Grayson, CEO of Spark Networks, said: "Our two highest priorities remain returning to revenue growth and improving profitability. We strongly believe this can be achieved through the implementation of our strategic plan, which is focused on a future state of the Company that has a substantially lower cost base, more efficient marketing spend, and an improved user experience. Spark's diversified portfolio of leading brands (including Zoosk, EliteSingles, SilverSingles, eDarling, Christian Mingle, and Jdate) hold significant value in the online dating market and are in demand by our global subscriber base. We continue to target at least a 50% increase in Adjusted EBITDA to $28 million in 2023, and our long-term goal is to achieve and sustain 25-30% plus Adjusted EBITDA margins consistent with industry averages, which should allow us to fulfill our intent to accelerate the paydown of our debt. To start 2023, in the first quarter, our seasonally weakest quarter, our Adjusted EBITDA margin grew from 2% to 6% year-over-year, which signals what we intend to be the start of a year of efficiency for Spark."

With new management and learnings from the strategic review process, the Company believes it can achieve significant efficiencies by both substantially reducing costs and growing revenue through the following changes that are currently planned or in process:

Exit Germany: The Company plans to close its Berlin operations by January 2024, which it expects will result in significant cost savings, in part because of the related downsizing of the employee population by approximately 200 full-time positions. In the fourth quarter of this year, the Company intends to commence the process of redomiciling from Germany to become a Delaware corporation. Partly owing to these efforts, the Company expects to become a lower fixed-cost, decentralized organization with the goal of retaining best-in-class service providers that will be held highly accountable for results and some of whom the Company expects to compensate on a shared-success basis.

Improve Product & User Experience: The Company plans to outsource its IT services to a third-party, offshored vendor with the goal of creating a more modern technology stack, an improved user experience, and further...