GVC's Annual Revenue Tops £3 Billion During a "Trasformational" Year

GVC Holdings marked a pivotal 2018 which saw gaming specialist’s net income surge from £815.9 million the year prior to the astonishing £3 billion!

That’s including the results generated by Ladbrokes Coral from March 28th (when this brand was acquired by GVC), and including this brand’s contribution from January 1st (the so called proforma basis), total GGR for the year was £3.6 billion.

The company’s chief executive, Kenneth Alexander, pinpoints several crucial factors to this success…

…hailing in particular effective operational execution and marketing as well as good World Cup performance.

Operational Execution Without Peers

The purchase of Ladbrokes Coral was made GVC Group, the biggest online, sports betting and gaming operator on the planet!

Comments Alexander: “The Group’s full year results reflect a very strong performance with proforma net gaming revenue 9% ahead of last year and proforma underlying EBITDA 13% ahead,” GVC chief executive Kenneth Alexander said.

He lauded the company’s exceptional operational execution that helped the GVC legacy, whereas Ladbrokes Coral business platform performed ahead of expectations and materially ahead of the market.

Online and Sports Revenue Flourishing

GVC’s online operations contributed to the overall result with £1.7 billion, which is a 115% year-on-year leap.

Legacy sports brands grew 27 per cent on an annual basis which was boosted by growth of markets such as Italy, Brazil and . The sports vertical made most of a successful World Cup period, cross-sell into non-sports products and the release of new games.

Individual Brands Did Well Too

Eurobet brand, oriented towards the Italian market and purchased through the Ladbrokes Coral deal, saw income grow 20%, whereas Australia’s Ladbrokes branch rose 17%, with sports betting very successful (20% increase).

The company’s business in Australia will be further bolstered by the acquisition of Neds, online sports betting operator in November.

The biggest winner is Georgian operator, Crystalbet, also obtained in March last year, whose net revenue rose 61%.

Expenses Rise, But So Does Trading

Expenditures related to finance rose to £63.9 million, but this was offset by gains of £58.3 million and £1.1 million of income-related to finance. Pre-tax loss was, therefore, £18.9 million…

…while trading also went strong, especially in the first quarter of 2019: online revenue was up 22% while net gaming went 11% upwards. GVC’s official statement said that “this represents an excellent start to the year, and at this early stage, the board is confident of delivering EBITDA and operating profit in-line with expectations.”

Source:

“GVC hails transformational year as revenue reaches 3bn”, igamingbusiness.com, March 5, 2019.