SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Kindred has published its combined Annual and Sustainability Report for the 2022 financial year, as it continues to pursue its corporate social responsibility (CSR) targets.
Providing an introduction to the group as a company and its long-term strategy and key value creation drivers, the report also includes facts and figures, case studies, as well as ambitions and commitments within its sustainability strategy.
Kindred’s sustainability framework consists of four elements: responsible gaming, a secure platform, product integrity and responsible business.
In detail, Kindred reported that £343.3m was generated in corporate, payroll and betting tax, and sponsorships, which contributes to local communities by partnering with sports organisations, supporting community projects, investing in responsible gambling activities and providing job opportunities.
CEO Henrik Tjärnström said: “While 2022 has been a challenging year, I am proud and grateful for the hard work put in by all my colleagues at Kindred and at Relax Gaming.”
In 2022, Kindred’s new people strategy was launched with six focus areas to ensure success in attracting new talent.
The company ranked second in the All-in Index, a recognition for its wide range of diversity programmes, and in the Alchemy leadership development programme for 2022, 40% were women.
During the year, it also implemented a new group diversity database that ensures correct statistics which will help setting targets for different levels and countries.
Furthermore, Kindred’s greenhouse-gas emission-reduction targets were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. During the year, 109 employees volunteere
d in local projects, providing a way of supporting the local communities while at the same time engaging employees.
The report also outlined a continued support to projects and partnerships across markets such as Au Coeur du Football, Nolla Utanförskapet and No Heart No Glory.
Meanwhile, the firm maintained a CDP score of B: an external assurance of its ability to monitor, quantify and improve our carbon emissions.
The group also made strides in terms of responsible gambling, and at the end of 2022, the proportion of consumers showing improved playing behaviour after detection stood at 82.1%.
Having set itself a target of achieving 0% revenue from harmful gambling back in 2021, the company’s latest update on this objective revealed a rate of 3.3% in Q4 2022, down from 3.8% the previous quarter.
Moreover, since being granted its Netherlands gambling licence in June last year, and relaunching Unibet in the Dutch market as Unibet.nl not long after, the group reported a ‘promising intake’ of 247,000 new customers by the end of 2022.
For 2025, the company has outlined a financial target which aims for a total revenue of more than £1.6bn.
“We have work to do, and we have set ambitious targets for 2025, as well as an Underlying EBITDA guidance of £200m for the full year 2023,” Tjärnström concluded.
“I am fully confident we will achieve this and as a team we will execute on the strategy we have set.”
