Eastern European gaming operator Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG) reported a modest bump in Q1 revenue despite a shrinking retail footprint.
Figures released Thursday by the Estonia-based OEG show revenue in the three months ending March 31 rising 1.8% year-on-year to €52.4m, while earnings improved 11% to €10.9m and net profit gained nearly one-third to €7.4m.
The gains came despite OEG’s total number of casinos falling to 115 from 120 at the end of Q1 2017 and betting points falling by six to 25. OEG currently operates in six European markets and also operates online using its Malta-licensed OlyBet brand, which recently announced plans to establish an Italian-licensed site to complement its land-based operations in The Boot.
Latvia remains OEG’s core market, although local revenue declined 1.5% to €16.3m in Q1. This market will likely face further declines in future, as Latvian authorities have taken an increasingly hostile approach to some of OEG’s casinos in the capital Riga.
OEG’s Estonian operations reported revenue rising 18.3% to €14.7m, while earnings more than doubled to €3.2m. OEG’s number of Estonian casinos stood pat at 24 in Q1 and the company offered no explanation for the financial surge, so the smart money is on some punter-antagonistic sports results at OlyBet.
OEG’s other markets were a mixed bag, with Italy up 3.5% to €8.2m and Malta up 5.4% to €3.3m, while Lithuania fell 14.6% to €6m and Slovakia dipped 11.5% to €4m.
In March, OEG’s two largest shareholders announced that they’d accepted a €288m takeover bid from Odyssey Europe AS, a subsidiary of UK private equity group Novalpina Capital Partners. The transfer of control officially took place on May 10. The following day, OEG shareholders voted to delist the company from the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange, meaning the company is no longer under obligation to deliver these types of reports every three months.
