Gala Coral doubles full-year online EBITDA

Gala Coral CEO Carl Leaver claims the group’s decision to re-launch its online business is “paying off strongly” as the digital businesses this morning reported year-on-year EBITDA growth of 104%.

Online EBITDA for the year ended 27 September totalled £49.5m, more than double the £24.3m posted during 2012-13, with strong growth witnessed across all four of its established brands.

Gross win across the digital business increased by 54% to £234.7m in the 12-month period.

Boosted by the World Cup, the company’s coral.co.uk brand, which was re-launched onto the Playtech platform in October 2012, contributed total gross win of £66.5m, of which £35.1m was derived through sportsbook (up 119%) and £31.4m from gaming (up 107%).

Coral.co.uk saw a 70% hike in active players across the year, a 0.8pp increase in gross win margin to 5.9%, a 9% increase in spend per customer and a near trebling (198%) of in-play betting due to an expansion of in-running markets.

Gala Bingo also had a strong year in what proved to be a testing online market with gross win up 21% to £79.5m and stakes up 25% or £242.8m.

Due to its continued focus on high value players, Gala Bingo spend per active was up 23%, although this strategy also slowed the growth of active players to just 2% to 328,700.

Gala Casino’s online gross win was up 56% to £21.6m with stakes 84% ahead of last year, or £292.1m. A similar focus on VIP players saw spend per active rise by 62% with total number of actives up by 14% to 85,500.

The operator’s Italy-facing Eurobet.it site, which was re-launched in Q2, posted total gross win of £5.6m, of which £4.2m was contributed by sports betting where stakes increased by 23% to £19.3m resulting in a 9.2% market share.

Sweden-facing Gala.se, which was launched in May, contributed £100,000 of gross profit and was now said to be displaying “encouraging signs” after what was described as a “slow start”.

Leaver said he was pleased with the growth seen in the online division and expected to see the upward trend continue into FY15.

“The significant investment in launching our new online business is paying off strongly, with gross profit up 54% and EBITDA up 104% – in particular Coral.co.uk had an outstanding year with gross profit up 134%,” Leaver said.

“We expect this momentum to continue into FY15 following strong customer acquisition throughout the World Cup during which Coral.co.uk attracted 136,000 new depositors,” he added.

Total Gala Coral Group EBITDA, which includes its UK and Italian retail businesses, amounted to £235.5m, up 14% on the £205.7m posted the previous year.

Earlier this month the company announced it was in the process of merging its Coral Interactive and Gala Interactive businesses in order to closer align its retail and online offer.