Henrik Tjärnström – Kindred looks to new shores post World Cup

As a sign of corporate growth and progress, Kindred Group CEO Henrik Tjärnström has stated to investors that corporate comparative trading periods will only get tougher for the Stockholm-listed enterprise.

Presenting Kindred’s H1 2018 interim leadership update, Tjärnström acknowledges that a further ‘all-time high’ trading quarter has been driven by World Cup Russia 2018, with Kindred achieving its biggest active player base of +1.5 million customers.

In his update, Tjärnström details to Kindred investors and analysts the demands of navigating a successful World Cup, which should not be underestimated by corporate stakeholders.

“We are very happy to be up 31 per cent as reported. Of course the World Cup has been a major contributing factor, however, these are not easy times. I’m very happy to report that every Kindred division and employee came together to deliver on our plans for these championships” Tjärnström details to investors.

Closing a busy trading period, Tjärnström details that Kindred will continue to develop its broad online gambling proposition, driven through proven organic and acquired brands, able to compete in multiple European jurisdictions.

For its new markets proposition, Tjärnström notifies investors that Kindred has placed a ‘ number of boots on the ground assessing open US market opportunities’.

In his presentation, Kindred’s leader notes that the firm will soon unveil its first US-centric partnership with a leading US casino operator, likely to be targeting ‘New Jersey as the entry point, later this year.’

For the time being, Tjärnström will not disclose what brand Kindred will seek to launch for US markets, acknowledging that its flagship Unibet has a limited profile stateside.

“Our working hypothesis right now is when sports becomes available, we would see it as a big benefit if we could go with the Unibet brand, albeit we fully appreciate that it’s unknown in the US market, but it has worked well in Europe and we believe it could work well in the US as well.”