GVC reports H1 EBITDA increase of 14%
Operator enjoys growth in both sports and gaming as it prepares to update market on bwin.party discussions
GVC Holdings this morning reported a 14% increase in EBITDA with its chief executive Kenneth Alexander reasserting the operator’s intention to “play an important role” in industry consolidation.
Despite an increase in taxes from UK Point of Consumption and VAT in Europe, total EBITDA for the six-month period to 30 June was 25.5m, while net gaming revenues were up 15% to 121m, a slight increase on the 120m reported in a trading update issued last month.
Growth was predominantly powered by the operator’s gaming division which saw net gaming revenues (NGR) per day increase by 25% to 365,000, while daily sports NGR rose 6% to 303,000.
Total sports wagers for the period increased by 19% to 824m although margin decreased from 9.9% to 8.8%. The firm said 73% of sports gross margin was generated by in-play markets while mobile generated 38% of gross gaming revenues, up from 22% last year.
The Sportingbet and Betboo operator also announced a 25% increase in earnings per share to 0.33.
“GVC continues to show strong financial performance, with growth in revenue, clean EBITDA and dividends,” Alexander said.
“With our track record of delivering value through organic growth and acquisitions we are determined that GVC will play an important role in the continuing consolidation of the online gaming sector. We expect to update the market soon about our discussions with bwin.party digital entertainment plc,” he added.
GVC is currently in a battle with 888 Holdings to acquire bwin.party. 888, which this morning announced a 17% fall in H1 EBITDA, is at present viewed as the preferred bidder by bwin.party, although GVC was yesterday urged to make its final bid.
The prolonged battled for bwin.party has already come at a price for GVC, with costs relating to the potential acquisition, including due diligence, tax planning and legal advice, having reached 3.8m by 30 June.
Meanwhile, the firm said it intends to obtain a licence for the recently regulated Romanian market after agreeing to pay the country’s authorities 0.9 in back taxes.
The firm also said activity within the Greek market had begun to recover after having previously reporting a “softening” in activity due to the ongoing financial crisis in the country.
GVC’s AIM share price had risen 4p to 439p after early morning trading.