GVC posts 10% NGR growth despite major tournament absence

GVC Holdings has reported a Group net gaming revenue (NGR) increase of 10% from the first half of last year (€441.8 to €484.8m), even in the absence of a major football tournament.

Issuing its combined H1 and Q2 trading update, GVC also showed that Group NGR per day was up 10% from H1 2016 and 8% for Q2, even though sports wagers during the last quarter were down 2%, with sports NGR experiencing a similarly minor decline (1%).

However, the sports betting and gaming specialist countered that if you exclude Euro 2016 revenues, daily Group wagers and NGR were at +10% and +15% respectively versus Q2 2016.

Within Sports Brands, the gross win margin for the period was 10.1% (9.9% Q2 2016), which was in line with GVC’s expectations of the long-term sustainable average. Daily wagers were broadly flat in constant currency, but with adjusted growth of 10% without wagers for last summer’s showpiece football tournament in France.

Meanwhile, the sale of its payment processing business Kalixa to Senjō Group was completed on 31 May, contributing H1 2017 revenues of €6.1m against €7.6m for pro forma H1 2016.

GVC Holdings CEO Kenneth Alexander said: “The Group continues to perform well with positive momentum across our core businesses. Achieving Q2 constant currency NGR growth of 10% in the absence of a major football tournament is particularly pleasing.

“As demonstrated at our recent Capital Markets Day, the organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise. This combined with an increase in marketing investment in the second half to more normalised levels gives the Board confidence of GVC delivering another year of strong progress.”