Bright sportsbook performance, boosted by Euro ’24, helped iGaming heavy-hitter Kindred salve the wounds of its U.S. market exit and deliver a rock steady financial performance in a financial H1 that aligned with expectations.
During Q2, for example, the Sweden-origin, Malta-headquartered group–that boasts a cluster of top gambling brands, among them Unibet, 32Red and bingo.com– achieved a total revenue of £327.6 million (US$422.92m), marking a seven percent increase from the previous year’s £307.3 million (US$396.71m).
Kindred’s B2C Gross Winnings Revenue in the quarter rose six percent, year-on-year, to £317.2 million (US$409.49m); while underlying EBITDA also experienced significant growth: up 32 percent to £73.6 million (US$95.01m).
Profit
Profit before tax in the quarter, meantime, improved to £55.6 million (US$71.77m), from £33.1 million (US$42.73m). And profit after tax reached £44.5 million (US$57.44m), up from £27.7 million (US$35.75m).
Most significantly, the number of active customers grew by 12 percent to 1,749,611 players.
Looking at H1 in total, revenue reached £635.3 million (US$819.98m) — up four percent on the corresponding period of 2023.
B2C Gross Winnings Revenue during the half increased three percent, y-o-y, to £614.8 million (US$793.52m); while underlying EBITDA surged 26 percent to £132.9 million (US$171.53m), compared to £105.1 million (US$135.65m) in H1 last year.
Performance
Profit before tax was reported at £95.4 million (US$123.61m), up from £63.5 million (US$81.96m); while profit after tax reached £75.9 million (US$97.96m), a big jump on the £53.3 million (US$68.79m) in the first half of ’23.
Earnings-per-share were reported at £0.35, compared to the £0.25 of the previous year’s H1. Free cash flow more than doubled to hit £65.3 million (US$84.26m).
“Building on our solid start to 2024, I am pleased to present a very positive set of second-quarter results,” said Kindred CEO Nils Andén (pictured left), who had the unwelcome task of telling stakeholders and market watchers last November that the group, forged in 1997 from the then-Unibet Group, was pulling out of the U.S.
“We continue to demonstrate our resilience and strategic execution, which is reflected in our strong performance across our market portfolio,” Andén affirmed.
“The vast majority of our top markets have grown year-on-year, which is very encouraging.
“Our development in locally-regulated markets has been particularly strong, with [our] year-on-year Gross Winnings Revenue growing 10 per cent [in this sector].
“The second quarter contained strong sportsbook activity throughout, with Euro 2024 boosting customer engagement towards the end of the period.
“Favourable results–in combination with a record share of BetBuilder activity–delivered a historic high sportsbook margin of 12.1 percent.
“This is considerably higher than the long-term average margin of 9.9 per cent and we expect to see some normalisation in the second half of 2024,” Andén ended.
