888 Holdings reports 2015 results

Financial Highlights

 Like for like revenue increased 12% to US$507.7m (2014: US$454.7m); reported revenue increased 2% to US$462.1m
 Like for like B2C revenue increased 14% to US$444.2m (2014: US$390.8m); reported revenue
increased 3% to US$402.6m
 Like for like Casino revenue increased 18% to US$261.4m (2014: US$220.6m); reported Casino
revenue increased 5% to US$230.6m (2014: US$220.6m)
 Revenue from regulated territories increased to represent 59% of Group revenue (2014: 55%)
 B2B revenue of US$59.5m (2014: US$63.9m) impacted by adverse currency movements
 Adjusted EBITDA of US$80.6m (2014: US$100.7m), a resilient outcome given newly introduced gaming duties in 2015 of US$32.2m, US$10.2m (2014: nil) in relation to newly introduced VAT in certain EU member states as well as adverse currency movements; EBITDA of US$59.4m (2014: US$97.3m)
 Adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.4% (2014: 22.1%); EBITDA margin of 12.9% (2014: 21.4%)
 Adjusted profit before tax of US$55.5m (2014: US$67.9m); Profit before tax of US$32.5m (2014: US$67.9m)
 Continued strong cashflow performance with net cash generated from operating activities of US$85.0m (2014: US$111.9m)
 Corporate cash net of customer liabilities of US$96.2m (2014: US$95.6m)
 Final dividend of 4.0 cents per ordinary share per policy (2014: 4.5 cents) and due to strong performance the Board is recommending an additional one-off dividend of 8.0 cents per share (2014: 7.0 cents), bringing the total dividend per share for the year to 15.5 cents per share (2014: 15.0 cents)
 Adjusted EPS of 15.9 cents per share (2014: 19.2 cents); reported EPS of 8.3 cents per share (2014: 16.1 cents)

Itai Frieberger, CEO of 888, commented:

“2015 was a very successful year for 888during which we maintained our excellent operational momentum. This strong performance reflects the continued execution of our focused growth strategy as well as the quality of our brands, best-in-class technology and CRM expertise and was achieved despite the significant external challenges that impacted the online gaming
industry and our profitability. Like for like Group revenue increased 12% driven by our core B2C business where we delivered an outstanding 13% increase in active players. This again reflected an exceptional performance in Casino and impressive growth in Sport, where we continue to see exciting opportunities on which to further capitalise in 2016.

In line with our strategic focus, we made further progress across regulated markets with growth in Spain, aided by the launch of slots in the first half, Italy, where mobile continues to drive market penetration, and Denmark, where we have seen an encouraging performance following our successful launch in the second half of the year.

This has been another very good year of progress for 888 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in our team for their fantastic efforts. As expected, 2016 trading to date has been strong with average daily revenue 20% higher than the same period in 2015. With our excellent operational momentum, leading online gaming brands and technology edge, the Board remains confident of delivering long term sustainable growth and we look forward with confidence as we continue to develop 888.”

To see the full report, click here.