GVC sports brands power 13% Q1 revenue rise

GVC Holdings this morning reported a 13% year-on-year rise in Q1 2017 revenues following strong double-digit growth from the operator’s sports labels.

The London-listed firm recorded group revenue of €241m during the 90-day period, up from €215.6m last year (91 days), while net gaming revenue from its sports brands increased 17% year-on-year to €175.3m.

Sports betting revenues from those brands, which include bwin and Sportingbet, were up 13% during the quarter to €85.3m for the period, with the group benefitting from a 1.1pp increase in its sports margin to 9.6%.

Meanwhile, gaming/other was the fastest-growing segment in the operator’s sports labels, up 21% year-on-year in constant currency to €90m.

Revenues from GVC’s games brands and B2B & non-core also increased 6% to €55.3m and 21% to €10.3m respectively.

Chief executive Kenneth Alexander said he was “delighted” by the operator’s performance during the quarter but warned of a potentially more difficult year ahead.

“Comparatives will get more challenging as we move through the rest of the year, particularly in the absence of a major football tournament this summer.

“However, I’m very confident that the combination of continued enhancements to the customer offering combined with a return to more normalised marketing spend will deliver another year of strong progress at GVC.”

GVC also revealed Q2 had started positively with revenues up 18% to date.

The operator’s share price was up 4.92% to 802.66p on the FTSE 250 at the time of writing.