Betsson posts 18% revenue rise ahead of Ireland push

Betsson AB reported Q1 revenues of ?86m this morning, marking an 18% year-on-year surge on the back of continued acquisitions and organic growth in core products.

Operating income was up 5% over the same period last year to ?21.5m, at an operating margin of 25%. The group said results would have been better but currency headwinds knocked approximately ?3m off its operating income.

Sportsbook and gaming were equally strong, with sportsbook turnover growing 11% to ?576m, and customer deposits for gaming also up 11% to ?302m.

“Organic growth continues to be strong,” Ulrik Bengtsson, Betsson CEO, said. “This is the eighth consecutive quarter where growth in constant currency has exceeded market growth in our core markets.

“Betsson’s consumer brands are doing particularly well, with organic growth in constant currency of 21%, and sportsbook is growing, despite low historical margins,” he added.

The firm said underlying activity continued to be positive, with growth of 45% in active customers numbers, which during the quarter reached 538,077.

Bengtsson told EGR that much of the customer growth came from recent bolt-ons, primarily Betsson’s acquisition of Europe-Bet in July 2015, which itself saw 37% online revenue growth during the quarter.

The Stockholm-listed firm also acquired an Ireland licence at the start of the second quarter and plans to launch its Betsafe brand into the market in the coming weeks.

“It’s an attractive market because of the potential marketing synergies with the UK,” Bengtsson said.

Betsafe ramped-up its No Bullshit Betting campaign across the UK last month.

During Q1, Betsson also completed the migration of its various brands onto the Techsson platform, bar the recently acquired EuropeBet, and opened a new tech hub in London to tackle the “big technical problems” Bengtsson said faced the business.

Betsson shares were down 9% to SEK117.80 at the time of writing.