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888 Holdings PLC on Friday said fourth-quarter revenue declined amid regulatory measures hitting its UK online segment, despite the football World Cup contributing to a ‘successful fourth quarter’.
Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer Yariv Dafna will step down on March 31, after the Gibraltar-based online betting and gaming company publishes its 2022 results.
Revenue in the fourth quarter to December 31 fell by 2.6% to £458 million from £470 million. For the whole year, revenue was 3.0% lower at £1.85 billion from £1.91 billion. 888 said the revenue figures are provided pro forma, as if it had owned William Hill for all of both years.
‘Trading during the fourth quarter of 2022 was in-line with board expectations,’ 888 said.
‘Online revenues [were] stable compared to the third quarter of 2022, and 5% lower than the prior year, with a continuation of the trends seen in the first nine months of the year, with strong performances across a number of regulated countries being offset by the impact of proactive enhanced player safety measures within the UK Online segment.’
888 said the World Cup contributed to a ‘successful fourth quarter’. Online player days at William Hill rose 22% versus the UEFA European Championships in summer 2021. 888 sealed the acquisition of William Hill’s non-US business in July of last year for an enterprise value of £1.95 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2022 will be in line with 888’s guidance range of £305 million to £315 million, it said. Adjusted Ebitda was reported in dollars in 2021, coming in at $165.0 million, though this didn’t include William Hill.
The outlook for 2023 remained unchanged, 888 said, anticipating revenue to be lower by a low single digit percentage, and an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of at least 20%.
888 shares were 4.7% lower at 89.14 pence each in London on Friday morning.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter
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