OPAP "cautiously confident" after restructure
Q3 EBITDA up by a third year-on-year as Greek monopoly's restructure begins to bear fruit
OPAP chief executive Kamil Ziegler said the Greek monopoly is “cautiously confident” after the operator posted a 33% increase in Q3 EBITDA on the back of a major business restructure.
EBITDA for the three months ended 30 September reached 94.2m on the back of a 20% year-on-year increase in revenues to 1.06bn.
OPAP did not provide a break down for the percentage of its sports betting revenues derived from the online channel, however total sports betting revenue stood at 356.4m for the period, up 21% year-on-year after a successful World Cup.
The operator revealed in September that its GTECH-powered online sportsbook had performed “below expectations” after launching and sources in Greece informed eGaming Review at the time that the site attracted as little as 1.3m in revenue throughout the World Cup.
OPAP has stated its intention to roll out a number of enhancements to its online sportsbook in the coming months including the addition of new sports and markets, and its recent acquisition of the exclusive right to operate horse racing betting in the country is expected to contribute towards the product push.
The operator has been undergoing a substantial restructure since Ziegler’s Emma Delta investment vehicle took control of the firm earlier this year.
Ziegler previously stated his intention to renegotiate various supplier contracts, and third-party costs fell 29% to 12.5m throughout the quarter.
Staff costs fell 14% to 6.5m in the period, contributing towards what Ziegler said was a “persisting containment” of OPAP’s operational expenditure.
The group also revealed the results of its voluntary redundancy scheme, which started in July, confirming a total of 347 employees accepted redundancy for which OPAP incurred a total compensation cost of 12.3m.