888 crashes out of FTSE indices as share price continues to tank
Multi-brand operator removed from London’s mid-cap 250 and 350 as part of exchange’s quarterly portfolio rebalancing
888 has been removed from both the FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 by compilers at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as part of quarterly review of the indices.
Removal can occur for a variety of reasons, including poor share performance, something which has blighted 888 of late – the stock is down 70% in the past year and fell sharply after the recent departure of CEO Itai Pazner.
Pazner left 888 with immediate effect in January after more than 20 years at the operator, with chairman Lord Mendelsohn stepping up to take the temporary CEO role while the search for Pazner’s successor takes place.
The exit came despite 888 still being in the process of integrating the William Hill International business into its wider operations, with a timetable of integrations revealed at a Capital Markets Day (CMD) in November 2022.
In the wake of the news, 888’s share price slumped 27.4% from a closing price of 103p on Friday 27 January to a price of 75p at close just three days later, on 30 January.
It has since fallen to under 60p in early trading on the LSE (21 March) with year-to-date losses for the stock now just over 32%. Its market cap is £265m at the time of writing.
Source: Google
888 is also investigating its VIP programme in the Middle East, which was announced by 888 on the same day as confirmation of Pazner’s departure and has yet to be resolved, as well as a potential £15m UK Gambling Commission fine levied against its William Hill subsidiary.
888 did not comment on its removal from the FTSE indices after being approached by EGR.
In its last trading update, 888 confirmed pro forma full-year (FY) 2022 group revenue of £1.85bn, down 3% year on year (YoY), with high retail revenue growth offset by losses in the online segment.
888’s FY22 online revenue fell by 15% YoY to £1.3bn, with revenue likewise impacted by UK online safer gambling measures as well as the closure of 888’s operations in the Netherlands. Barring this, revenue would have been down 4%.
Retail revenue from the William Hill shops amounted to £519m, up 54% YoY, reflecting a full year of trading in 2022 relative to partial closures during the first half of 2021.