12th Aug 2025 10:15
(Alliance News) - Entain PLC on Tuesday raised its interim dividend and full-year outlook, despite swinging to a loss in the first half.
The Isle of Man-based gambling firm posted a GBP96.0 million pretax loss for the six months that ended June 30, compared with a profit of GBP13.7 million the year prior.
On an underlying basis, Entain made a pretax profit of GBP226.4 million, which is still 8.9% lower than GBP248.5 million a year ago.
The downturn is partly due to a civil penalty imposed by the Australian Transaction Reports & Analysis Centre. The government watchdog took the Ladbrokes owner to court in December for "serious and systemic non-compliance with Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws". Austrac said Entain's failure to disclose "unusually large" transactions "left the company at serious risk of criminal exploitation."
Entain allocated GBP47.7 million to the penalty in the first half of 2025. The provision combined with other "separately disclosed items", such as GBP131.0 million in amortisation costs from acquired assets, to cost Entain a total of GBP322.4 million in the first half, up from GBP234.8 million on-year.
Revenue rose 3.2% to GBP2.60 billion from GBP2.52 billion a year before. Net gaming revenue, which includes Entain's 50% stake in BetMGM and excludes VAT and sales tax, climbed 2.8% to GBP2.63 billion from GBP2.56 billion.
Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 11% at GBP583.4 million. Including BetMGM, Ebitda rose 32% to GBP625.5 million after better-than-expected performance by the US sports betting operator.
As a result, Entain boosted its interim dividend by 5.4% to 9.8 pence per share from 9.3p, and raised its performance targets.
Entain shares traded 2.5% lower at 913.40p on Tuesday morning in London.
For the full-year, Entain expects online net gaming revenue 7% higher on a constant currency basis, compared to the previous "mid-single-digit" growth range. New guidance was added for Ebitda between GBP1.10 billion and GBP1.15 billion. For Ebitda including BetMGM, Entain forecast "strong double-digit growth".
Also on Tuesday, Entain made Pierre Bouchut its permanent non-executive chair, effective immediately. A board member since September 2018, Bouchut became senior independent director in December 2023, before his appointment as interim non-executive chair in February.
According to Chief Executive Stella David, the gambling company still has "a lot of hard work to do." Though the UK & Ireland is Entain's primary market, the firm is looking to speed up growth in Brazil and the US.
"We continue to press ahead with increased vigour, seeking to embrace learnings from across our business, our customers, as well as from behaviours of leading global organisations, that will see Entain return to its winning ways."
By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter
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