GVC Holdings PLC, the multinational sports betting and gaming group, has confirmed a strong quarter in its trading update for the six months to 30 June 2017.
GVC’s Q2 report highlighted a number of key growths in relation to NGR with trading figures in line with management expectations alongside the completed disposal of Kalixa.
The group’s latest KPI figures show another strong quarter with daily NGR +8% on the same period last year and +10% in constant currency. GVC claims this was achieved despite the absence of a major football tournament, reflecting continued good momentum across the business. Excluding Euro 2016 revenues, daily Group wagers and NGR were +10% and +15% respectively versus Q2 2016.
The company stated that within its Sports Brands, the gross win margin for the period was 10.1% (9.9% Q2 2016), in line with expectations of the long-term sustainable average. Daily wagers were broadly flat in constant currency against a comparative period that included the Euro 2016 tournament – adjusting for this, underlying wager growth was 10%. Gaming daily NGR from Sports Brands continued to benefit from improved product and CRM, increasing +16% (+18% constant currency) on Q2 2016.
The report also showed Games Brands daily NGR increase by 13% (+15% in constant currency) over the same period last year, the highest quarterly growth reported by the division since the acquisition of bwin.party in February 2016. The company claims this growth is being driven by partypoker and an improving performance from the Group’s standalone casino brands.
Group NGR for the first six months rose 10% to €484.8m (+11% in constant currency) versus pro forma1 2016.
In addition, the disposal of Kalixa was completed 31 May 2017 and during the first half contributed revenues of €6.1m against €7.6m for pro forma H1 2016.
Kenneth Alexander (CEO) said: “The Group continues to perform well with positive momentum across our core businesses. Achieving Q2 constant currency NGR growth of 10% in the absence of a major football tournament is particularly pleasing. As demonstrated at our recent Capital Markets Day, the organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise. This combined with an increase in marketing investment in the second half to more normalised levels gives the Board confidence of GVC delivering another year of strong progress.”
