Betsson revenues up 14% but warns there is ‘more work to do’
Operator enjoys growth in all key verticals thanks to the World Cup but says sustainable growth will take more time
Betsson AB has published its financial reports for the second quarter of 2018, revealing a 14% year-on-year rise in its group revenues for the period.
Group revenues for Q2 2018 were SEK 1,346.4m (£116.1m), while operating income (EBIT) rose 45% year-on-year to SEK300.7m (£25.9m).
Betsson attributed the rise to “high activity during the World Cup and product improvements and efficiencies”.
By division, sportsbook revenues led the way, rising by 17% year-on-year to SEK300.2m (£25.9m), with sportsbook gross turnover increasing by 8% to SEK6,2265m (£537.4m).
Revenues from online casino operations also saw double digit rises during the quarter, topping SEK1,016.6m (£87.7m) in Q2 2018, up 16% on the same period of 2017.
Betsson CEO, Pontus Lindwall hailed the progress made by the business during the quarter after a rocky 2017, but said there was still “a lot more to do”.
Lindwall said: “We continue to systematically follow our back-on-track plan, which is a long list of actions that are built around four main areas: growth in core markets, product and technology, efficiencies, and M&A activities temporarily on hold.
“The third quarter has begun with daily revenues higher than the average daily revenue for the full third quarter last year. The revenue increase is to a large extent a result of activity related to the FIFA World Cup that ended on 15 July 2018 and should not be regarded as guidance for the full third quarter.
“We continue to work hard with the ambition to make Betsson’s product offering more competitive and the marketing efforts more efficient. However, it will still take time until we see sustainable improvements.”