GVC reports first half results
News on 6 Jul 2017
News on 6 Jul 2017
The GVC Holdings online gambling group has released a trading update covering the first six months of 2017, noting that it has maintained performance momentum across its core businesses, and flagging the following achievements:
H1 2017 Group daily NGR up 10 percent year on year (+12 percent constant currency);
H1 2017 NGR Euro 484.8 million up 10 percent y-o-y (+11 percent in constant currency);
Q2 2017 Group daily NGR up 8 percent (+10 percent in constant currency) vs Q2 2016;
Q2 2017 underlying Group daily NGR up 15 percent vs Q2 2016 (excluding Euro 2016 revenues).
* Kalixa disposal completed 31 May 2017 – during the first half the payment firm contributed revenues of Euro 6.1 million – down on the Euro 7.6 illionm for pro forma H1 2016.
Management noted that the strong performance in the sports sector was achieved despite the absence of a major football tournament, reflecting continued good momentum across the business. Gross win margin in Sports was 10.1 percent (9.9 percent Q2 2016), in line with expectations of the long-term sustainable average. Gaming daily NGR from Sports Brands continued to benefit from improved product and CRM, increasing +16 percent (+18 percent constant currency) on Q2 2016.
Games Brands daily NGR increased 13 percent (+15 percent in constant currency) over the same period last year, the highest quarterly growth reported by the division since the acquisition of bwin.party in February 2016. Growth is being driven by partypoker and an improving performance from the Group’s standalone casino brands.
Chief executive officer Kenneth Alexander (CEO) reported to shareholders:
“The Group continues to perform well with positive momentum across our core businesses. Achieving Q2 constant currency NGR growth of 10 percent in the absence of a major football tournament is particularly pleasing.
“As demonstrated at our recent Capital Markets Day, the organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise. This combined with an increase in marketing investment in the second half to more normalised levels gives the Board confidence of GVC delivering another year of strong progress.”
