SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Publishing its Q3 2017 trading update (period ending 30 September), London-listed online gambling group Jackpotjoy Group Plc has detailed robust growth across its brand portfolio, with the operator confident of achieving its full-year corporate expectations.
The strong revenue momentum recorded across its principal brands of; Jackpotjoy (up 12%) and Vera&John (up 28%), would see the company declare period group revenues of £75 million (Q3 2016: £66 million).
Reporting stronger group performance KPIs, with Jackpotjoy seeing a 13% uplift in active wager customers during the period of +250,000, the company would declare a period adjusted EBITDA of £26.7 million up 4% on corresponding 2016’s £25 million.
Closing Q3 2017 trading, Jackpotjoy narrows its group net losses to £7.7 million (Q3 2016: £18.6 million) as the company enters a crucial end of year period in which it will ramp up marketing spend across its portfolio.
During Q3 2017, Jackpotjoy governance announced that Andy McIver would step down as leader of the company, with former Gala Coral MD Simon Wykes taking on the newly created role of Jackpotjoy Group Managing Director.
Wykes will share leadership of the London-listed gambling group, alongside Neil Goulden acting as Executive Chairman. Goulden commented on Q3 2017 trading
“The third quarter has seen a continuation in the strong underlying momentum that we saw during the first six months of 2017, with gaming revenue up 14% and Adjusted EBITDA[1] up 4%. There continues to be solid customer growth across the Group, with our Vera&John business segment performing particularly well, with constant currency revenue growth of 21% in the quarter.
I am very proud of the new integrated advertising campaign for our Jackpotjoy brand, which launched in the UK in mid-September. Television personality, Paddy McGuinness, succeeded Barbara Windsor as the new brand ambassador and early signs indicate that the campaign is helping to reinforce our market leadership position in online bingo in the UK.
Finally, in October, the Group announced that Andrew McIver will be stepping down from his role as Chief Executive Officer, having successfully overseen the listing on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year. In my new role as Executive Chairman, I will be responsible for leading the development and execution of long-term strategy, while Simon Wykes has joined us as Group Managing Director to provide additional operational expertise.”
