Tomorrow is another day hopes global, but stalled, iGaming heavy-hitter evoke–owner of storied betting brands William Hill, 888 and Mr Green–in its just-released “soon come” financial results for H1.
The company, now helmed by reforming CEO Per Widerstöm, reported revenue of £862 million (US$1.1bn) for the six months ending 30 June 2024, a year-on-year decline of two percent; but four percent up on H2 2023.
UK Retail Revenue fell by eight percent. Online was up one percent. And international markets remained stable.
Adjusted EBITDA at £116 million (US$149m) was down 26 percent, compared to H1 last year.
Yet the company claimed “significant progress” was made in their strategy and value creation plan, which was launched in March earlier this year.
The plan is focused on driving long-term profitable growth by enhancing operational efficiencies, streamlining decision-making processes and leveraging data-driven insights.
Restructuring
Restructuring its executive leadership, evoke–formerly 888 Holdings Ltd.–, brought in new talent and reduced business layers in the financial half to create a more efficient organisation.
Mr Green, for example, has seen growth in Denmark, while William Hill continues to “refine” its customer proposition, with a focus on core customer groups and enhanced product offerings.
Marketing strategies are shifting from promotions-led to product-led, aligning with customer needs and delivering a more competitive proposition.
Targeting
Evoke is targeting growth of between five-to-nine percent in H2, reaping the benefits of its recent exit from the B2C U.S. marketplace.
“As I said in our July trading update, while the financial performance in the first half was disappointing and behind our initial plan, the underlying health of the business is continually getting stronger,” attested CEO Widerström.
“The corrective actions we have already taken give us even more confidence that our strategic approach is sound and that we will achieve sustainable success.
“We are completely transforming this business. Whilst the scale of change is significant, it is necessary for us to deliver mid and long-term profitable growth and value creation.
“We have already taken bold, decisive actions to both instigate a turnaround in short-term trading performance while simultaneously investing into the Group’s capabilities to drive step-change value creation and build a bigger, more profitable, more sustainable, and more cash generative business in the future.
Concluded Widerström: “We have a clear plan, vision and financial targets.”
