SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
European sports betting operator Unibet Plc, continues to be hit by negative currency exchange rate fluctuations on its core performance metrics for 2015.
Updating the market on its interim performance, Unibet has disclosed record group revenues for Q2 2015 which amounted to £80.5 million (Q2 2014 – £75.6 million). Unibet would record H1 2015 group revenues of £156.6 million up 4% on H1 2015 £150.2 million.
Unibet governance noted that the result for the second quarter as reported in GBP were significantly affected by the translation effect of movements in currency exchange rates. The underlying organic growth in gross winnings revenue if reported in constant currency would be more than 21%.
The Stockholm listed operator would record Q2 2015 growth an all key metrics with EBITDA earnings of £15.8 million and group profits of £13.4 million.
However exchange rate fluctuation fluctuations would impact H1 performance metrics, with Unibet posting H1 2015 EBITDA earnings of £33.4 million (H1 2014: £36 million) and group profits after tax of £23.4 million (H1 2014: £25.4 million).
Despite its H1 2015 metric dip, Unibet governance remained positive noting that the company had progressed significantly during the first six months of 2015 , despite no major football tournament.
Unibet management would further highlight that it had been able to accelerate its UK market development with the acquisition of Stan James Online for £19 million in Q1 2015, an acquisition multiple around 6 times annualised 2015 EBITDA before synergies.
Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Unibet commented on company performance
“Strong growth in turnover across all products and our continued focus on operational efficiency has raised profitability, with a 13% increase in EBITDA in GBP and 39% in constant currency despite lack of major tournament.”
“The success of the marketing investments made in previous quarters, has also driven organic growth of more than 21% in gross winnings revenue in constant currencies, despite tough comparables from the successful World Cup in 2014. This has also resulted in all-time high in gross winnings revenue. Mobile revenues grew by 48% in GBP, 69% in constant currency. The growth in sportsbook turnover of more than 12% in GBP (over 27% in constant currency) and the all-time high in Casino & Games show the very strong underlying activity.”
“In the period up to 2 August, daily average gross winnings revenue in constant currency was slightly above the daily average of the third quarter of 2014, despite lower margins compared to the exceptionally high margin in July 2014. Underlying activity continues to develop extremely positively, with sports betting turnover up 20% in in constant currency compared to the same period in 2014, which included the final stages of the World Cup”,
Unibet H1 2015 – Performance Overview
