Online gambling company bwin.party digital entertainment plc released information about its financial performance in the nine months ended September 30, 2015. Revenue decreased 8% year-on-year to €429.9 million. The amount of €465.8 million was reported for the same period a year ago.
The company attributed the drop to the fact that no major football tournament took place in the first nine months of the year, the sale of some of its non-core businesses, and the impact the recently imposed EU VAT had on its operations.
Clean EBITDA totaled €79.8 million for the period in review, up 5% year-on-year. Excluding the recently introduced UK Point of Consumption tax and EU VAT changes, clean EBITDA would have registered a 26% rise.
The company also noted that revenue from its sports betting business increased despite the absence of a major football tournament this year. What is more, sports margin has clearly recovered in the third quarter of the year, although it was still lower than the one posted for the three months ended September 30, 2014.
Average daily revenue grew 9% year-on-year to €1,484,300 compared to €1,372,100 in 2014. Excluding the newly introduced EU VAT, total net revenue increased 12%.
Norbert Teufelberger, CEO of bwin.party, commented on the announced results, saying that although its performance was impacted by the EU VAT and the absence of FIFA World Cup, the company has made a relatively strong start into this year’s fourth quarter, particularly in its casino and sports betting divisions.
Mr. Teufelberger further noted that bwin.party has already managed to reach its full-year target for €15 million in cost savings and that it expects to save more funds in the last quarter of 2015. He also pointed out that they are optimistic about full-year results, due to the operator’s constantly expanding mobile segment and despite the declines in revenue from poker and the impact of EU VAT.
As previously reported, bwin.party announced that it had reached an agreement with rival gambling operator GVC Holdings for the latter to purchase bwin.party’s entire issued and to-be-issued share capital. The related transaction documents are to be presented to shareholders in the weeks to come and the acquisition is expected to be completed early in 2016.
