Unibet bullish on back of quarterly report

Gambling stalwart Unibet Group plc delivered a third quarter interim report whose results it says were affected by unfavourable currency exchange rates but still show strong organic growth.

The company said it had delivered a new all-time high in gross winnings revenue which amount to GBP 86.1 million (Q3/2014: GBP 80.4 million), the amount “significantly affected by the translation effect of movements in currency exchange rates”. However, underlying organic growth in gross winnings revenue in constant currency was over 21 percent.

Other key financial indicators include:

– Underlying profit before items affecting comparability for the third quarter was GBP 18.1 million (Q3/2014: GBP 18.0 million and GBP 45.1 million (9M/2014: 47.7 million) for the nine month period to September 2015.

– Profit before tax for the third quarter amounted to GBP 14.4 million (Q3/2014: GBP 18.1 million). Profit before tax for the nine month period to September 2015 amounted to GBP 40.9 million (9M/2014: GBP 83.6 million).

– Profit after tax for the third quarter amounted to GBP 12.9 (16.5) million. Profit after tax for the nine month period to September 2015 was GBP 36.3 million (9M/2014: GBP 79.9 million.

– Earnings per share for Q3 were GBP 0.452 (Q3/2014: GBP 0.585) and GBP 1.275 (9M/2014: GBP 2.838) for the nine month period to September 2015.

– Number of active customers at the end of the quarter was 671,635 (Q3/204: 573,074) of which 28,644 were customers of the businesses acquired in the third quarter.

Unibet said sports betting turnover increased by 24 percent in GBP, equating to organic growth of around 40 percent in constant currencies, while underlying EBITDA for the third quarter was slightly below the result for the same period in 2014, as a result of lower sports betting margins and the impact of the changes in exchange rates of approximately 13 per cent.

“Our focus on the mobile strategy already five years ago has enabled us to be and remain at the forefront of industry developments. In the third quarter our share from the mobile grew by 47 percent compared to the third quarter last year and amounted to 51 percent of our gross winnings revenues and as such now is our single largest channel,” said Henrik Tjärnström, chief executive officer for Unibet.

“During the quarter the Unibet Group completed the acquisitions of the iGame Group, which contributed GBP 0.7 million of gross winnings revenue and GBP 0.1 million of profit before tax and Stan James Online, which did not contribute as it was acquired on 30 September.

“The combination of our continuing organic growth and these strategic acquisitions give the Unibet Group a strong platform for accelerated development in future quarters. The acquisitions also bring new expertise into our teams, with opportunities for future synergies and increasing our share of revenues from locally regulated markets.”

Since close of the company’s third quarter, daily average gross winnings revenue in constant currency to November 1, were more than 30 percent higher than Q4/2014.

“This reflects both the continuing strong activity levels as well a good start for iGame and Stan James,” concluded Tjärnström.