GVC boosted by 21% increase in sports turnover
Operator overcomes punter-friendly results to record sports revenue growth of 15% during first four months of 2015
GVC Holdings this morning posted a 17.5% increase in daily net gaming revenues (NGR) for the first four months of 2015 after enjoying double-digit growth in both its gaming and sports verticals.
Average daily NGR for the 120 days ended 30 April amounted to 658,000, an increase on the 560,000 recorded during the comparable period in 2014.
Gaming NGR was up by almost 20% to 347,000 per day while sports increased by 15% to 311,000, despite a reduction in sports margin from 9.62% to 8.75% following a run of “punter-friendly” results.
However, greater customer payout appeared to have a positive impact on sports wagers as average daily turnover increased by 21% to 4.59m.
GVC chief executive Kenneth Alexander praised GVC’s ability to grow in the face of testing sports results.
“The board is delighted by the strong start to 2015 despite a lower sports margin percentage as a result of punter friendly results so far this year as has been commented upon already by a number of our peers,” Alexander said.
“The business continues to show impressive growth and we continue to remain confident for the rest of the year,” he added.
Investment advisory firm Edison Research said this morning’s trading update amounted to a “strong start to 2015” for GVC with potential M&A opportunities set to aid further growth later this year.
“We continue to expect organic growth to be augmented by acquisitions at some stage, to further diversify the business and leverage its proprietary platform,” Jane Anscombe, Edison analyst, said.
In March, Alexander told eGaming Review to “rule nothing out in terms of M&A” with acquisitions and bolt-ons forming a major part of the operator’s growth strategy.
GVC’s share price remained flat at 444.5p after early morning trading.