Gala Coral online profits surge 43%
First quarter profits almost double as active player numbers increase across the board
The online division of Gala Coral has posted a 43% increase in gross profits for Q1 FY14 after witnessing an increase in active players across all four of its brands.
The Group reported online gross profit of £37m, £11.1m ahead of the comparative period last year, while EBITDA was also up 43% to £10.3m for the 16-week period ended 18 January.
Gala Coral attributed the rise to a number of factors, primarily an uplift in player numbers across the board with Coral.co.uk, Eurobet.it, Galabingo.com and Galacasino.com up 60%, 18%, 19% and 142% respectively.
The company said the rise in active player numbers was due to the “continuation of substantial investment in marketing” which saw spend increase 74% year-on-year to £14.8m.
Despite placing a £3.8m cost on unfavourable football results during the period, Gala Coral said online sports margin had gone up by 1% to 5.8%, a rise which resulted in a sportsbook gross win of £3.7m, an increase of 124% year-on-year.
According to the operator, this growth was boosted by a heightened risk strategy which saw the suspension and removal of a number of unprofitable customer accounts.
Mobile penetration at Coral.co.uk increased by almost a quarter to 62% of actives and the operator said it expected this to increase further following the planned launch of a tablet-optimised app before the end of the month.
Galabingo.com also posted positive numbers with stakes up 20% to £56.2m and mobile penetration up 27% to 45%, while Galacasino.com’s triple-digit growth in actives saw stakes increase by 165%.
“Gala Bingo grew strongly across all KPI’s last quarter,” Alison Digges, director, Galabingo.com, commented. “Our strategy of investing in differentiated branded content and ongoing investment in our mobile and tablet products resulted in Galabingo.com continuing to out perform the bingo market.”
Gala Coral’s Italy-facing brand Eurobet.it completed a positive set of online results for the operator with gross win up 23% across the period to £2m with sports stakes up 28% to £7.6m and gaming stakes up 51% to £64.4m.
Eurobet gaming director Marco Trucco said its growth reflected an increase in poker market share as well as an increasing the number of casino games offered to 147 from nine different suppliers.
“[In Q1] we became the largest cash poker operator on the Italian Playtech network, reaching 7% of the Italian market share in terms of stakes in December, doubling our size compared to December 2012 while the market declined by 30% year-on-year,” Trucco said.
The online performance came as the whole of the Gala Coral entity reported a 6% increase gross profit to £13.8m with revenues up 12%.
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