Sales up at French gambling giant Francaise des Jeux

Just weeks ahead of a report on its privatisation, French online and land gambling giant Française des Jeux (FDJ) has posted FY 2017 statistics showing that sales rose 5.7 percent year-on-year to Euro 15.1 billion.

Last year’s strong sales performance follows a 3.6 percent rise in sales in 2016 by FDJ, Europe’s second-biggest lottery after Italy’s Lottomatica, a Reuters news agency report noted Thursday.

“This confirms the capacity of FDJ to generate dynamic growth over several years,” CEO Stephane Pallez told Reuters.

Francaise des Jeux reported a 2016 net profit of Euro 145.8 million; the group has not yet released the comparable figure for 2017.

FDJ is 72 percent state-owned and sources have said it is likely to be among the first companies to kick launch a wave of French privatisations.

BNP Paribas bank and law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, mandated by France’s state holding company APE to prepare the privatisation of FDJ, will hand in a report on the operation by mid-February, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

“It is clear that the state is the shareholder and will thus decide on the matter. We are expecting the state to take decisions within its own timetable,” Pallez added.

The French finance ministry has announced plans to sell Euro 10 billion worth of stakes in state-owned companies to raise money for a new fund to finance innovation, an election pledge of President Emmanuel Macron.

Related and similar