World Cup football drives record revenues for Betfair

Betfair plc posted its first quarterly results for its financial year 2015 Thursday, detailing key performance indicators for the three month period ended 31 July 2014.

Highlights of the interim management statement include:

* Revenue up 30 percent to GBP 117.3 million driven by a strong FIFA World Cup and continued momentum across all products;

* During the World Cup Betfair punters placed over 22 million bets (2010 World Cup: 18 million);

* Revenue excluding the World Cup up 12 percent, including 17 percent growth in sustainable markets;

* EBITDA up 39 percent to GBP 34.5 million;

* Sustainable revenue mix up three percentage points to 80 percent;

* Mobile revenue up 162 percent, with the channel contributing 70 percent of Sportsbook revenues;

* Customer acquisition up 181 percent and number of active customers up 48 percent to 784,000;

* New products performing strongly: Almost one million Sportsbook bets received a Price Rush, giving customers an average 24 percent boost to odds on these bets;

* Sports revenues up 30 percent at GBP 83 million;

* Gaming revenues up 45 percent at GBP 19.8 million;

* Betfair US revenues up 14 percent at GBP 14.2 million;

* Revenues from sustainable markets increased 34 percent to GBP 93.7 million

Chief executive Breon Corcoran commented Thursday:

“Betfair’s ongoing product innovation and marketing investment led to an excellent quarter against all key metrics, with continued momentum in sustainable revenues and customer numbers enhanced by a strong World Cup.

World Cup revenue of GBP 15.9 million was approximately double that generated from the previous major international football tournament at Euro 2012 and contributed towards making this a record quarter for Betfair.

The introduction of the Sportsbook means we can now offer superior value to customers who prefer promotion-led offers as well as those who simply want the best odds offered by the Exchange. At the World Cup we led with a market leading promise to return losing stakes if England lost and if matches went to extra time. The two England defeats followed by eight draws in the knock out stages meant we returned a seven figure sum to customers.

“The World Cup offered a unique opportunity to acquire new customers and increase engagement with existing customers. As a result, we saw record new customer activations and a 65 percent increase in the number of active customers in sustainable markets.

“Throughout the quarter, we have continued to see the benefits of integrating our Exchange and Sportsbook platforms. One third of Sportsbook customers received a Price Rush and, on average, benefited from a 24 percent increase in odds.

“We are focused on a number of challenges, including our early stage investments in New Jersey online casino and Italy, and uncertainty remains in a number of unregulated markets. However, we are encouraged by the performance in the first quarter and the momentum of the business, and accordingly remain confident that we can deliver our expectations for the full year.”

The statement reveals that Betfair’s mobile revenue performance was strong in all areas following significant product improvements. These included a new integrated sports-casino native app for iPad and iPhone and fully redesigned apps for both Casino and Arcade.

Overall mobile revenue was up 162 percent, and the channel contributed 70 percent of Sportsbook revenues and 28 percent of Gaming revenues (up from 45 percent and 14 percent respectively in Q1 FY14).

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