SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Grupo CIRSA, the Blackstone-owned Spanish gambling group, revealed that 2021 trading is ‘on par with company expectations’ as its global land-based units continue to be impacted by COVID circumstances.
Publishing a Q1 2021 trading overview, the CIRSA registered group operating profits of €28.6 million, generated from corporate revenues totalling €156 million.
CIRSA underscored that period operating profits were generated against an extreme backdrop of a ‘66% reduction of its commercial capacity’, when compared against standard trading conditions prior to the pandemic.
Within its home market of Spain, CIRSA was forced to observe venue closures of its bingo, casino and arcade properties across the provinces of Catalunya and Valencia.
Venue closures were mirrored in the Latin American (LatAm) markets of Panama and Peru, where CIRSA was forced to observe lockdown orders of its casino properties for a further trading quarter.
Yet, CIRSA detailed that it had achieved positive outcomes in the gradual reopening of its gaming venues across Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic – as its properties tracked at 80% of revenues capacity compared to pre-pandemic trading results.
Sportium, CIRSA’s flagship online gambling brand, was the only business unit to achieve growth during the trading period, benefiting from strong customer activity with a congested sports calendar.
Despite its headwinds, CIRSA has maintained a positive outlook.
It noted that with each unit reopening, the company witnessed “a rapid recovery of revenues which, together with a flexible cost management and a solid liquidity, will allow it to overcome the expected operating restrictions with full guarantee in the coming months until the full normalization of the activity”.
