Unibet profits up 13% in Q4 figures
Operator achieves record revenues in Nordics " poker in significant decline, down 32% in 2011.
Swedish operator Unibet has seen its fourth quarter profit after tax rise 13% for the three months ending 31 December, helping it to an overall rise of 10% for the full year.
The strong performance was driven by a 26% quarter-on-quarter rise in profits from operations and a 14% rise from £34.2m to £38.8m for FY2011. Gross winnings revenue also rose 26% in the fourth quarter, up to £44.7m, and 5% for the year.
This came despite a slight year-on-year drop in gross winnings revenue from sports betting, which fell from £62.6m in 2010 to £61m in 2011, with gross win recovering in Q4 to rise 29% on Q3 2011, after a low of £12.3m between April and June last year.
The small decline in sports betting was mitigated by a 10% rise in gross win from casino, poker and other products, up from £84.8m in 2010 to £93.5m for the year. Casino was the star performer, with revenues of £64.6m for 2011, while poker declined significantly, down 32% in 2011.
The Nordic Region remains Unibet’s key market and was responsible for 58% of total revenues over the course of the year with record takings of £57m. The company’s presence there has expanded after it was awarded a licence to operate in Denmark in December last year, and launched its Unibet and Maria dot.dk sites on 1 January.
CEO Henrik Tjarnström (pictured) said that record revenues from the Nordics justified the company’s strategy of focusing on its core territories: “Our focus on core markets continues to deliver excellent results with all-time high revenues for the Nordic region and this growth has been achieved across both the Unibet and Maria brands.”
The company re-entered the French market with the launch of Unibet.fr on 2 January, following the acquisition of EurosportBET owner Solfive in November last year for a total cash consideration of £8.1m. Responding to Vaughan Lewis of Morgan Stanley, Tjarnström justified the acquisition by explaining that with ARJEL president Jean-François Vilotte calling for changes to regulation, it was vital to move early before regulatory changes were implemented.
“If we had waited for terms and conditions in France to improve, we would have had to pay 10 times the amount,” Tjarnström said.
Unibet will next expand into Belgium, confirming its application for an operator licence in January, and also in Australia where it acquired Northern Territory-licensed bookmaker Betchoice for a total £13.6m earlier this month. It has also applied for a Spanish licence.
Tjarnström said: “In line with our acquisition strategy, we have also made two strategic investments to broaden the geographical and product range, one in France and one in Australia. This combined with our developments towards local licences such as our new Danish licence, is rapidly transforming Unibet into a leading regulated market player.”
However, the Unibet CEO admitted that profits were likely to be down in new territories such as Denmark, Spain and Belgium, but added that he believed strong performance in the Nordic region would maintain the overall growth in profit for the full year 2012.