UK-listed online gambling operator GVC Holdings performed above and beyond expectations in 2017, thanks to a record Q4 result.
On Thursday, GVC issued a trading update covering its Q4 and FY17 results, which saw the company post double-digit gains in both sports and gaming brand revenue. Net daily revenue in Q4 totaled €279.5m, up 21% over Q4 2016 and the highest quarterly total since the company acquired the Bwin.party operations a couple years back.
GVC’s Q4 daily sports revenue was up 35% (40% in constant currency terms) to €1.2m as margins improved 3.4 points to a hefty 13.1%. The gains came despite betting handle falling 11% year-on-year, which the company said was “predominantly” due to the November sale of its Turkish-facing operations.
Despite keeping so much of its punters’ money, the sports brands’ gaming/other revenue shot up 14% to just under €1.1m, thanks to “improved product and cross-sell.” GVC’s dedicated games brands reported daily revenue rising 22% to €677k, with PartyPoker singled out for “maintaining its impressive growth.”
For the year as a whole, GVC said overall revenue was up 13% to just over €1b – another new company record – while clean earnings are expected to come in “at the top end of management’s internal expectations.”
GVC CEO Kenneth Alexander (pictured) expressed delight with the 2017 numbers, which he claimed demonstrated “our ability to integrate significant acquisitions, realize material synergies and at the same time deliver top line growth.”
GVC is in the home stretch of its audacious bid to acquire UK rival Ladbrokes Coral Group, which Alexander said offered “an exciting opportunity” for both companies’ shareholders.
Investors appear to have gotten used to GVC turning in boffo results, as the stock closed out Thursday’s trading essentially flat from the day before. That said, the share price gained roughly 50% over the course of last year as GVC went from one success to another.
