LEAF Mobile sees insider buying

Now might be the time to pick up some LEAF Mobile (TSX:LEAF), if you believe that recent insider buys are showing executive confidence in the company’s potential.

A Vancouver-based developer of free-to-play mobile games, LEAF last week saw Board Chair Mike Edwards acquire 775,000 shares, the bulk of which are indirect ownership, at a price per share of $0.44 for a total of $341,000. CFO Jim MacCallum bought 40,000 in March, while Edwards acquired another 540,000 shares in March.

LEAF’s share price, which debuted on the TSX Senior board in February has been a little up and down, starting at $0.50 and currently sitting at $0.445. The stock had fallen to a low of $0.325 in March.

LEAF has made some big moves of late, perhaps the most central being the closing in February on the pivotal acquisition of East Side Games for $159 million. The deal brought together two makers of casual or idle games and gave LEAF access to ESG’s IdleKit development platform, which is being touted as a revenue driver through partnerships with other game developers globally.

East Side Games, now wholly a subsidiary of LEAF, brought over to LEAF Edwards and Jason Bailey, appointed as Chief Revenue Officer of LEAF and director to the Board. Also concurrent with the acquisition, Edwards, Jonathan Bixby and Birgit Troy were appointed to the Board and Ian Maclead, Mark Rutledge and current LEAF CEO Darcy Taylor resigned their directorships.

Currently, insiders own about 58 per cent of LEAF, including Bailey owning 49.1 per cent of LEAF at about 375 million shares, Edwards with 6.3 per cent, Joshua Nilson and Galan Akin of ESG at 5.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively, and former LEAF CEO Derek Law at 2.2 per cent.

LEAF announced its first quarter financials last week, posting record Q1 revenue of $25.3 million compared to $13.0 million a year ago and adjusted EBITDA of $3.0 million compared to a loss of $1.4 million a year ago.

“We completed our transformational acquisition of East Side Games and made significant progress executing on our three-pillar growth strategy in the first quarter of the year,” said Taylor in the company’s May 17 press release.

“By the end of this year, we expect our game portfolio to have almost doubled, from both in-house and IdleKit partner game launches including the highly anticipated title from the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise,” Taylor added.