Tipp24 eyeing UK and US expansion as profits tumble
Lottery operator prepares to white label its software as part of wider diversification plans
Lottery operator Tipp24 is preparing to expand its presence in both the UK and US markets after recording a 65% dip in EBIT to 19.5m during 2013.
Revenues for the year fell 9% year-on-year to 129.9m although despite the drop in revenue and EBIT slide the results still managed to exceed the operator’s own forecasts.
According to the company, the drop can be attributed to unusually low winnings payouts and the 18.2m spin-off of Lotto24 occurring in the previous financial year.
The operator also noted that it had incurred costs of 14.5m in relocating its registered office to the UK, which became effective last month, and in preparing for its planned expansion.
Moves into the US and UK would follow a planned entry into the soon-to-be-regulated Dutch online gaming market, which the operator has stated will provide “substantial additional value”.
Hans Cornehl, CEO at Tipp24, said that the firm was planning to market itself as an online partner for both state-owned and private lottery companies with the firm’s Geo24 joint venture, which provides software for online lottery Geolotto, noted as one particular example.
The expansion will see Tipp24 make adjustments to its existing IT platform and incur costs of around 10m in 2014.
Tipp24 plans to market the Geolotto product globally in the coming year and has forecast that revenue for 2014 will rise to between 135m and 145m, with EBIT expected to be between 25m and 35m.