Kindred CEO: “We are confident of reaching the ambitious 2025 financial targets after tricky 2022”
Henrik Tjärnström says long-term EBITDA goal of £200m is doable and is confident the firm will execute set strategy
Kindred Group CEO Henrik Tjärnström has confirmed that the ambitious financial target of revenue above £1.6bn and EBITDA of £200m is achievable and said he is confident the operator will hit these figures.
In 2022, full-year gross winnings revenue (GWR) fell 15% to £1.1bn following a disappointing Q4. Underlying EBITDA also plummeted 61% from £332.1m in 2021 to £129.2m.
As part of the firm’s annual and sustainability reports, Tjärnström said the company is taking the necessary action to strengthen its financial position.
He explained: “Last year, I mentioned that we were in a stronger financial position than ever before. Closing the year, my summary is that our financial performance has not met our expectations in a challenging 2022. We are now taking the necessary actions to further strengthen our financial position.”
Tjärnström further emphasised that despite 2022 being a difficult year for the operator, he remains confident that the targets set in September 2022 are achievable.
He said: “While 2022 has been a challenging year, I am proud and grateful for the hard work put in by all my colleagues at Kindred and at Relax Gaming. We have work to do, and we have set ambitious targets for 2025 and an underlying EBITDA guidance of £200m for the full-year 2023. I am fully confident we will achieve this, and as a team, we will execute the strategy we have set.”
Speaking of the challenges that 2022 posed to the Stockholm-listed operator, Tjärnström stated that the year was one of change for both the operator and the wider social and economic environment, both positively and negatively.
He said: “History has shown that there will always be years that are more challenging than others. 2022 was such a year; putting governments, communities and organisations to the test. Despite the current and geopolitical affairs situation that we all find ourselves in, 2022 was a year of positive and negative change that we take lessons from to improve.”
Tjärnström then spoke about how pleasing it is to see that the firm’s ambitions of achieving 90% of revenue from locally regulated markets edging closer after achieving 81% of revenue from these markets in Q4 2022.
He remarked: “We chose a path over 10 years ago to operate in locally licensed markets giving us access to local markets and providing increased stability. During the fourth quarter of 2022, we had 81% of our gross winnings revenue from locally regulated markets. We are very proud of this and will continue to push towards 90% in the coming years.”
Lastly, Tjärnström spoke about Kindred’s 0% revenue from harmful gambling target. As of Q4 2022, the figure sat at 3.3%, a 0.5% percentage point drop on Q3 2022 but still some way off the lofty target of 0%.
He noted that while the goal will be very hard to achieve, the operator will continue on that journey until it reaches 0%.
Tjärnström said: “Our journey towards zero percent is an ambition to increase transparency and understanding about gambling-related harm, as well as increase the quality of our customer base. We set out to achieve this ambition by the end of 2023. With nine months left of 2023, I can see that reaching our ambition within this timeframe will be challenging.
“However, our dedication and firm commitment to the journey remains, and we will continue to report on our share of revenue from high-risk customers until we have reached the ambition. We know this reduces the risk of our customer database and thus improves the quality of our revenue,” he concluded.