SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Reporting on its Half Year (H1 2015) operating results, Gala Coral has continued its strong omni-channel performance with group EBITDA earnings up 10% to £135.4 million (£123.2 million).
The operator recorded top line metric growth throughout its business channels despite new regulatory impacts in the UK market and poor football results impacting EBITDA margins during Q1 2015.
The operator’s strong performance had been driven by a surge in new depositors of +560,000 up 28% on H1 2014. Gala Coral management were pleased to announce that its Coral Connect omni-channel strategy had delivered over 210,000 new sign ups.
Gala Coral governance would state that it believed that both Coral and Gala interactive verticals were the fastest growing businesses in the UK online gambling industry.
The operator online division would further record a significant net revenue increase in H1 2015 of £123.3 million up 38% on H1 2014 £89 million. Gala Coral interactive would contribute H1 2015 EBITDA earnings of £23.9 million up 12% on H1 2014 – 21.4 million
During H1 2015, the operator had substantially increased its marketing and operational expenses by 30% to £60.4 million for the opening half of 2015.
Coral’s retail division maintained EBITDA earnings of 1% to £78.7 million. The division had witnessed a 4% impact on its bet wagering, Coral retail management stated that the division did not see the same levels of gross win margins for Grand National and Cheltenham racing events in 2014.
Gala Retail (bingo/casino) would perform substantially better than its sports betting counterpart, with EBITDA earnings up 64% to £26.2 million. The division was aided by a significant reduction in bingo duty of 10% (£7.7 million). Furthermore the division had reported significant operational savings on property costs during Q1 2015.
Commenting on company performance Carl Leaver CEO stated:
“The Group delivered another strong period of growth with EBITDA £12.2m or 10% ahead in the first half, and underlying EBITDA £22.8m or 19% ahead. Growth in Online continued at market leading rates with net revenue 38% ahead of last year.
“Growth in Coral.co.uk has been driven by a combination of new multichannel actives and an improved and extended product offering. Galabingo.com also performed extremely well with net revenue 30% ahead of last year, helped by increased mobile play and improved CRM reducing churn rates. In Italy, our multichannel offering has been critical in helping grow Eurobet.it to the number 2 position in the online market. These are pleasing metrics, and we are confident that we can maintain this momentum as we continue to drive operational excellence.”
“Coral Retail EBITDA was ahead of last year despite both the Cheltenham and Grand National festival contributions being behind the prior year, while sports volume growth in Eurobet Retail was offset by very poor football results that have persisted throughout the Italian football season.”
Gala Coral Performance Overview – H1 2015
