Live blog: GVC H1 2019 financial results

That’s the end of the analyst call. Alexander concludes: “Thanks for listening, enjoy your holidays, thank you very much and goodnight!”

It’s now time for analysts to question GVC’s management team…

How GVC revenues look in Germany at present: 55% from gaming, 45% from sports, 80% of traffic comes from bwin

On potentially having to run gaming brands separately when Germany regulates, Kenny says: “If we had to do that it would be around Q4. It would cost somewhere in the region of £10-£15m. To get to the top end of our EBITDA guidance, it would need to be a minimal impact”

Kenny Alexander on US media partnerships: “We have had a number of conversations around US media deals, similar to our competitors. I wouldn’t rule it out but I don’t think we need to do it. We are happy with the JV as it is. I would like to do a deal but it isn’t a necessity”

Rob Wood on shop closures: “We have closed 150 so far. Another 200 in second half of year is a reasonable figure to expect”

Will there be a step change in marketing from GVC? CFO Rob Wood: “No. We won’t fundamentally change level of investment but it will tick down over time due to NGR growth and ad restrictions”

Kenny thinks site stability has helped Ladbrokes perform so well: “Stability of the sites has also helped. When we acquired it, we had some bad down time and that made it suffer in the past. We had the same thing when we acquired bwin. We kept the site standing upright 100% of the time and it is amazing how that helps the numbers. It has been very stable for the last 9 months or so, Shay and his tech team have nailed that”

On the UKGC recognising operators doing better on RG initiatives: “I don’t think we get the credit we deserve as we have actually done quite a lot. But we are at least getting recognition now that we are more responsible than we were and we are making significant strides”

32Red: “Occassionally the industry shoots itself in the foot. 32 and Rooney was absolutely ridiculous and I don’t think Paddy Power Huddersfield was the brightest idea”

Alexander on US business: Says he expects gains to come “very quickly” when Roar officially launches for start of NFL season.

“We are ready to go to war now in the US”

“There is a lot of noise about us being behind and the JV being the wrong deal but that is absolute nonsense”

Alexander calls out 32Red for its Wayne Rooney stunt

“I’m optimistic that the image of the industry will improve dramatically, although it does still have a long, long way to go. Some of the incidents we have seen recently with 32 and Wayne Rooney don’t help us.”

Interesting slide from the GVC presentation here…

GVC investor call is now underway

Alexander: “By the end of the NFL season we should see significant uptick in market share and grow as fast as anybody else”

According to Alexander, the full GVC online sports platform deployment for the US JV will begin from 19 August

https://twitter.com/gamblinglamb/status/1161921633277403136?s=20

Kenny Alexander: “We have knocked it out the park in all of our main battle grounds at the start of this year”

How Regulus views the big picture at GVC

“With GVC, as with many gambling companies, the devil tends to be in the detail, and we still see this as a more nuanced picture than strong headline trading figures and bullish statements around UK retail and Germany. However, what remains clear is that GVC has built a business that can withstand the kind of shock that would have been terminal for its independent components, and is running substantially all of those components much better than previous management.”

Regulus Partners on the impact of yesterday’s announcement in Germany

“In light of Hesse’s press conference earlier this week (see previous comment), GVC has reiterated its view that it will be able to continue to trade with all products into 2021. While we accept that this is possible, we struggle to see it as a probable scenario unless the entire IST3 is delayed (again relatively high odds in our view given the states have ratified it and it seems compliant with EU law) : accepting a sportsbetting licence and continuing to offer gaming is likely to lead to enforcement action that will be hard to explain in German courts or to other regulators, in our view; we are also sceptical that Germany will reduce its €1,000 staking limit”

https://twitter.com/gamblinglamb/status/1161913881196974080?s=20

An update on its hunt for a new chairman

On the search for a new chairman to replace Lee Feldman: Within the Group’s 2018 Annual Report, we disclosed the Board’s decision to find a successor to current Chairman, Lee Feldman. The decision will enable GVC to comply with changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code in respect to the recommended maximum tenure of a Chairman, which a significant number of the FTSE350 constituents are also addressing. The Board is committed to a rigorous process, and has carefully considered the key skills and experience that it believes are necessary. Stephen Morana, GVC’s Senior Independent Director, is managing the candidate search, supported by Russell Reynolds, the international recruitment firm

GVC on its US JV

“During the half, the JV established a head office in Jersey City, minutes from Manhattan. All senior management roles are in place and hiring is progressing well, with over 100 employees now in position. In the first half of the year the Group was granted licences in Mississippi and Nevada, and Roar Digital received a transactional waiver to conduct business in New Jersey”

How have the markets reacted to the results so far?

On the Ladbrokes Coral integration

“The migration of these brands has already commenced with the successful transfer of Gala Spins in the second quarter. The remaining migrations, including Ladbrokes, Coral and Gala Bingo, are planned for the second half of this year and into the first half of 2020”

GVC’s take on Italian marketing restrictions

“In Italy, restrictions on the promotion of all sports-betting and gaming came into force on 15 July 2019. The legislation does, however, allow for various forms of informative advertising and customer contact. The ability to still advertise, albeit restricted to informative forms, means the expected adverse impact on the market is likely to be less than had been expected under a blanket advertising ban”

The results are in…

Keep checking our live blog throughout the morning as we go through some of the key takeaways from GVC’s H1 results.