Gala Coral posts £537.8m Q4 loss
Group EBITDA for quarter down £14.7m - operator's year-end net debt stands at £1.323bn.
Gala Coral has reported a fourth quarter loss of £537.8m, due largely to the payment of a £550m impairment charge during the period, the group has announced.
Group EBITDA fell by £14.7m to £55m, a drop attributed to poor sports betting results for the quarter and increased costs, though the online business saw a 16% year-on-year increase in EBITDA, due to tight margin and cost management, the company said.
The group, which is in the process of moving its online operations to Gibraltar, also announced its full year results, which showed a 2% drop in turnover to £1.117bn, and an 8% drop in EBITDA. This was blamed in part on a decline in remote gambling, which was described as “limited by uncompetitive technology” and total refinancing costs of £41m for the year, resulting in a year-end net debt of £1.323bn.
The operator’s 10-year Playtech deal, signed in July, will see all of its sites re-launched on the software provider’s platforms in 2012. Gala Coral said this would take place in the spring and summer of next year, though the increased costs of creating the operational teams to oversee the re-launches means that online is expected to continue to trade below expectations in the short term.