SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Grupo Codere SA cites that its business has been negatively impacted by the “temporary closures by public authorities due to alleged noncompliance with certain regulations in both Mexico and Argentina”.
Publishing its Q2 trading update, the Spanish and Latin America-focused gambling group booked a net loss of €164m due to ‘impairment provisions’ needed to consolidate its performance in Mexico and Argentina.
Despite undertaking operational changes to boost its retail liquidity by €64m, Q2 trading saw the group’s earnings performance dragged by a negative -€8m cash flow from business activities.
Period trading saw Codere generate group revenues of €334m, up 5% on 2022 comparatives of €319m. Headline growth was maintained despite Codere witnessing a 12% revenue decline of its Argentina unit to €76m.
The Q2 consolidated statement detailed that Codere’s adjusted EBITDA (prior to impairments) had declined year-on-year by €900,000 to €51m.
Tracking its year-to-date performance, Codere’s group-wide losses stand at €187m – results tripling YTD 2022 losses of €62m.
Of further concern, period trading saw Codere enlarge its corporate debt by a further €61m to “€1,051bn excluding capitalisation of operating leases”.
Concluding its trading statement, Codere declared that “as at 30 June 2023, our cash position was €110 mm, of which EUR 64.4 mm corresponded to retail and EUR 45.4 mm to online”.
The firm’s balance sheet cited that the value of total assets had decreased by €88m, alongside a shareholders’ equity and minority interest decrease of €175m.
H1 trading saw Codere appoint Gonzaga Higuero as new Group CEO, to lead the firm’s “2023-to-2027 recovery strategy”.
The embattled Spanish gambling group has previously cited that it will not sell any of its international units operating in Italy and Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia and Panama.
The leadership of Codere provided no statement on its Q2 and YTD results.
