The coronavirus pandemic may have ripped through the whole world, whether it be in the entertainment or business sectors, and provided many people with a whole new reality – something that many of us are still trying to come to terms with today despite the outbreak happening just over six months ago.
GVC Holdings, who own the likes of Ladbrokes Coral, were one business to have been impacted by the virus, however they have revealed that they have managed to do rather well in the first half of the year.
Despite the cancellation and postponement of many sporting events around the world, the bookmaker stated that they had managed to produce an “encouraging performance” in the first six months of the year.
They revealed that the group’s underlying earnings were down around five per cent at £348.6 million and have forecasted that their full-year Ebitda (the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are all taken into account) was expected to be between the £720m-£740m mark. The profit after tax was flat year-on-year at £2.1m.
With the lack of sporting events on across the world, GVC’s strong online growth can be attributed to the increase in people playing games online, such as games being played at casino sites. This revenue was said to be up 19 per cent on the previous year, therefore softening the blow that would have been felt.
Horseracing and football were claimed to have been “favourable” by the betting company, with the Cheltenham Festival playing a significant role. GVC said: “The Cheltenham Festival was the last major event before lockdown with results well ahead of 2019.”
Of course, the football and horseracing were amongst some of the first sports to have also made a return to action, with a number of national events on the race card being brought forward or being completed as close to normality, whereas the football saw the Premier League and Championship return to their full schedules. Betting online for football and horseracing has always been extremely popular amongst bettors, so there will be some encouragment that figures can start to bounce back in a positive trend as well.
Physical betting shops prior to the government lockdown restrictions were also said to be performing well, therefore helping to provide some of the strong early year results that GVC were able to reveal recently.
Chief executive, Shay Segev, said of the results: “Given the unprecedented trading environment, GVC has delivered an encouraging performance in the first half.
“It underlines the strength of our diversified business model and the expertise, adaptability and dedication of our people. These results show that we have a strong foundation.”
Goodbody Stockbrokers gaming and leisure analyst Gavin Kelleher said of the results: “The underlying performance in online remains very encouraging, and UK retail continues to show positive signs of recovery.”
