Stocks Tracker: Aborted M&A and curious Q2 results send shares sinking and soaring

Kindred Group 1 July closing: SEK85.10 29 July closing: SEK89.20 Peak July closing: SEK89.20  Some things are surely a known truth. Two plus two equals four. Life, death and taxes. And when a publicly listed company posts a 34% plunge in revenue year-on-year, its share price surely falls off a cliff. Apparently only two of these are universal truths. Kindred bucked this trend after recording a 34% fall in Q2 revenue as tough comparatives and continued absence from the Netherlands impacted operations but the stock market, blinkered or belligerent, reacted with a smile as Kindred’s share price received a welcome boost. On Friday 22 July, the Stockholm-listed company reported a decrease in revenue to £238.7m from £363.7m, with EBITDA plunging 81% from £114.5m in Q1 2021 to 21.6m in Q2 2022 and post-tax profit slumping from £87.1m to £5.8m. However, the group’s share price remarkably rose from its previous close of SEK82.16 to SEK84.96 and continued to rise throughout the rest of the month, topping out at SEK89.20 Kindred returned to the Netherlands with its Unibet.nl brand on 4 July, just after the reporting period, and this comeback may well have pleased investors enough to hold the stock for a little bit longer. CEO Henrik Tjärnström also moved to appease fears, highlight tough Covid comparisons and the planned development of its in-house tech stack. On Covid comps, he noted it would give a “skewed view of performance” and that he was “look[ing] to the future with confidence”. Touching on the Kindred Sportsbook Platform (KSP), he added: “Once operational, our KSP will give us a unique and important flexibility to tailor our offering towards our customers across the world […] providing Kindred with a highly scalable platform while reducing our cost base.”

Playtech 1 July closing: 548p 29 July closing: 491p Peak July closing: 549.50p  The soap opera that is the long-protracted, long-delayed and ultimately fruitless battle for Playtech sent the London-listed firm’s share price tumbling in July after Hong Kong-based TTB Partners withdrew its interest. The bid, which was backed by CEO Mor Weizer and former Playtech CEO Tom Hall, was pulled after TTB said it had no intention of making an offer due to the “challenging underlying market conditions”. The news broke on Thursday 14 July, spooking investors and sending Playtech’s share price plummeting from 516p to sub-420p, wiping almost £300m off the firm’s value. The announcement put an end to Playtech’s relatively stable start to the month but following the shock, the supplier’s stock failed to recover to the level before TTB confirmed its intention to walk away. In fact, on Friday 15 July Playtech’s monthly share price bottomed out at 421.80p before rising slightly in the backend of the month. News of plans to ditch the proposed SPAC merger of its Caliplay JV did little to appease the market, with little change in the company’s stock. Playtech, similarly to TTB, citied deteriorating macroeconomic conditions as the reason for pulling the plug. Betsson AB 1 July closing: SEK62.85 29 July closing: SEK70.19 Peak July closing: SEK71.15 An all-time high revenue for Betsson in Q2 sent the Nordic firm’s share price soaring in July as the operator thanked strong growth across Latam and the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. The Stockholm-listed firm recorded an 8% uptick in quarterly revenue from €172.8m (£158m) in 2021 to €186.3m while active customers increased 20% to 1,246,710. There was also a 17% increase in deposits (€845m). The market responded positively to the quarterly report on Thursday 21 July, with the first portion of July seeing Betsson’s share price steadily slip, bottoming out at a low of SEK57.50 the week before the results were announced. Betsson’s share price leapt from SEK60.19 to close at SEK65.90 on results day, despite underlying figures noting a 16% downturn in EBITDA and a 23% dip in operating profit. Additional strategy announced by the firm in its results confirmed it had increased its stake in both African operator Betbonanza and Strive Gaming seemed to appease investors. Following the results announcement, Betsson maintained its momentum, with its stock continuing to rise throughout the remainder of July, moving past the SEK70 threshold for the first time since October 2021. Flutter Entertainment 1 July closing: 8,282p 29 July closing: 8,228p Peak July closing: 8,438p  It was a month of change at Flutter as UK and Ireland CEO Conor Grant publicly announced his decision to step down to take a career break from the gambling industry after 12 years with the operator. Grant took up the reins as UK and Ireland CEO in July 2020 and confirmed on Wednesday 20 July he would be stepping down in at the end of the year and be replaced by ex-Booking.com CEO Ian Brown who arrives in September. Despite the senior shift, and the planned introduction of an industry outsider to the hotseat, Flutter’s share price climbed from 7,886p to 8,028p on the day of the announcement. Elsewhere, Flutter added former RBS director Lisa Sewell as the firm’s new chief people and operations officer for its UK and Ireland division and Fleet Street veteran Steve Hawkes to head up external comms. Although the market didn’t revolt at the news of Grant’s decision to step down, Flutter’s share price was rocked throughout July, with two severe dips bookending the company’s performance. A significant fall on Monday 11 July to 7,752p from the previous Friday’s close of 8,122p was a blow. Flutter’s stock slipped from 8,276p to 8,060p over the weekend, before dipping again on Tuesday 26 July to 7,782p. News of looming redundancies at the FTSE 100 operator towards the end of the month, which is set to impact contact, trading and marketing staff, did little to rock the stock.