888 Holdings Q3 revenues slip 7% YOY

Bookmaker 888 Holdings said on Tuesday that group revenues had slipped 7% year-on-year to £449.0m in the three months ended 30 September, primarily due to enhanced UK online player safety measures and the shuttering of its Dutch operations.

Retail revenue was stable year-on-year at £124.0m, despite a £4.0m hit from three days of temporary closures and sporting fixture cancellations/postponements during the period of national mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, while total online revenues slumped 10% to £325.0m.

888 Holdings, which wrapped up its acquisition of William Hill's non-US businesses in July, highlighted that in order to aid comparability, its Q3 financial results were designed to reflect the pro forma results it would have delivered if it had owned William Hill in the prior fiscal year.

The FTSE 250-listed group also said it has made "strong early progress" with realising synergies, creating a "more efficient operating cost base" and helping to deliver "an improved" adjusted underlying earnings margin in Q3 2022 versus H1 2022, with further improvement expected in Q4.

888 added that it was "cognisant" of the increased cost of debt and was taking steps to ensure the operating model of the enlarged business was "appropriate" to address near-term headwinds. After reflecting current foreign exchange rates on the group's non-GBP denominated debt, current gross debt was said to be approximately £1.81bn, with cash of £186.0m and undrawn committed facilities of £150.0m.

"Despite the changing macroeconomic environment and ongoing pressure on UK revenues from long-term focused enhanced safer gambling measures, the board expects revenues in Q4 2022 to grow over Q3 2022 and be similar to Q4 2021 levels," said 888.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com