GVC provides upbeat trading update

Sportsbetting and gaming firm GVC Holdings plc’s fourth quarter trading update reported a pleasing performance despite the impact of punter-friendly sports results during the last few weeks of the year.

The Isle of Man-based gambling company detailed daily net gaming revenue of Euro 2.5 million in the fourth quarter, while overall net revenue amounting to Euro 231 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2016, a 7 percent increase.

Daily net revenue from gaming operations grew 9 percent year-on-year, to reach Euro 1.6 million. Sports daily net revenue reached Euro 904,000 equating to a 5 percent increase over the same period in 2015. Sports wagers grew 3 percent to reach an average of Euro 12.8 million per day over the reporting period, margins were recorded at 9.6 percent.

“The international diversity of our business combined with a proven portfolio of both sports and gaming brands helped cushion us against particularly punter friendly sports results in the UK and adverse currency movements in some of our markets”.

The GVC Board anticipates group net gaming revenue for the year-ended 31 December 2016 to be slightly ahead of previous guidance, c Euro 894 million, an increase of 9 percent on the previous year (2015: Euro 822 million) and clean EBITDA to be towards the upper end of market expectations.

Kenneth Alexander, chief executive officer of GVC Holdings Plc, said:

“2016 was a landmark year for GVC in which the Group undertook its largest and most ambitious acquisition to date, that of bwin.party. Through the tremendous hard work of our people, we achieved and exceeded many of our goals and once again we were able to create significant shareholder value. In addition to returning bwin.party to growth, we remain on target to secure €125m of synergies by the end of the current year.

“Our strategy of pursuing international diversification and scale, through the leverage of our proprietary technology and talented people, is more relevant today than ever. We are excited about the organic opportunities for the Group in 2017 and beyond, but also remain alive to further industry consolidation.”

In related news,

The group reported the full repayment of its outstanding Euro 386 million loan with Cerberus Business Finance LLC through a combination of existing cash resources and the drawdown of a Euro 250 million loan from Nomura International plc. Under the new facility the Group’s interest payments will be materially lower (c Euro 40 million) in 2017 than they would have been had the Cerberus loan remained in place.

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