888 Holdings Details Improving Financial Form

Prominent online casino and operator of some of the UK’s best betting sites 888 Holdings has announced that it remains on course to deliver on its financial predictions for the whole of 2023 after ‘successfully navigating business, market and regulatory volatility’.

London-listed 888 Holdings is responsible for the Mr Green, 888sport and 888casino brands and saw its portfolio increase even further last summer courtesy of the £1.96bn debt-fuelled acquisition of fierce rival William Hill.

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Optimistic Outlook

The company used a recent first-half trading update to reveal that its aggregated revenues for the six-month period rose by 165% year-on-year to top £940m while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation spiked by a similarly impressive 211% to surpass £155.6m.

888 Holdings is also behind the Wink Bingo and 888poker iGaming domains and divulged that it had reduced its net debt by some £68m over the six months to the end of June as its net cash swelled by approximately £11m to reach £188m.

Pessimistic Points

However, the operator reported an overall first-half loss after tax of around a £32.9m due to ‘increased interest costs together with amortisation of acquired intangibles and certain one-off costs related to the acquisition’ of William Hill. 

The firm moreover detailed that this figure was a disappointing 371% below the about £12.1m profit it managed to amass for the first six months of 2022.

Nevertheless, 888 Holdings explained it had significantly reduced its overall leverage to 5.1-times and possessed more than £299.8m in total liquidity courtesy of an undrawn revolving credit facility worth approximately £149.8m.

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Executive Elation

888 Holdings recently selected experienced iGaming professional Per Widerstrom to serve as its next Chief Executive Officer from October 16. 

This role is currently being filled on an interim basis by the Gibraltar-headquartered company’s Non-Executive Chair, Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, following the sudden January departure of previous boss Itai Pazner.

“I am very pleased with the progress we have made in the first half of the year as the group delivered against the plans we committed to at our investor day last year while also successfully navigating business, market and regulatory volatility,” Mendelsohn said. 

“The strategic progress made during the year to date has created a fundamentally stronger business with higher profit margins and we remain on track to deliver against expectations for the full year.”

Serious Scrutiny

888 Holdings is furthermore still the subject of an investigation by the United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission regulator after a 6.6% stake of its business was purchased by FS Gaming Investments LLC, which is headed by the past GVC Holdings leadership duo of Lee Feldman and Kenneth Alexander. 

This probe, which incorporates a license review, was launched as His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is said to be examining the investing pair’s past business practices in Turkey.

Mendelsohn earlier pronounced that 888 Holdings would ‘fully cooperate’ with this inspection in hopes of bringing the matter to an expeditious conclusion. 

The Labour peer simultaneously disclosed that his company had ended talks with FS Gaming Investments LLC regarding the latter’s proposal to appoint Feldman, Alexander and former Betfair finance chief Stephen Morana to senior positions ‘as it simply could not put licences in our largest market at significant risk’

“We have successfully delivered against our focused market strategy, changing the mix of our revenue and creating a more profitable and sustainable platform for future growth,” Mendelsohn said. 

“Over the coming weeks I will be working closely with Per to ensure a smooth handover and I am highly confident in his ability to lead the team to realise the full potential of this business.”