5th Mar 2026 10:51
(Alliance News) - Entain PLC on Thursday reported strong online revenue growth in 2025 as it grapples with tax changes imposed in the November UK budget.
The Isle of Man-based sports betting and gaming operator which owns Ladbrokes and Coral said pretax loss widened to GBP556.8 million in 2025 from GBP357.4 million in 2024.
Entain said it had taken a GBP487.7 million impairment charge as a result of the recently announced tax changes in the UK online business.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 6.4% to GBP1.16 billion from GBP1.09 billion.
Underlying operating profit increased 40% to GBP861.2 million from GBP616.6 million.
Net gaming revenue rose 3.5% to GBP5.33 billion from GBP5.15 billion, or by 4% at constant currency, with overall revenue up to GBP5.26 billion from GBP5.09 billion.
Entain's online business saw 5% NGR growth, but the retail unit reported a 1% decline.
UK & Ireland reported 6% NGR growth, but performance in the International business was flat.
In the UK & Ireland, online saw 15% growth, with continued double-digit volume growth supporting further market share gains, but retail saw a 2% decline.
In the International unit, growth in Italy was offset by declines in Australia, hit by favourable sporting results, and Brazil, held back by softer margins, Entain explained.
Looking ahead, Entain said it expects 2026 online net gaming revenue, ex-US, growth of 5% to 7% on a constant currency basis, and remains comfortable with market expectations for 2026 underlying Ebitda.
In 2026, online underlying Ebitda margin is expected to be in the range of 23% to 24%, which includes an unchanged expectation to mitigate around 25% of the impact of the increased UK online gambling tax being implemented from April.
From 2027, Entain upgrades expectations to offset over 50% of this incremental UK tax burden through optimisation initiatives, returning underlying Ebitda to its upward trajectory year-on-year.
Entain the group's global scale, diversity and strong UK market position "sees us well placed to navigate regulatory and tax changes, with short term challenges providing strategic opportunities."
Entain reaffirmed its confidence in generating at least GBP500 million of annual adjusted cashflow in 2028, despite the increase in UK online gambling tax.
Entain in November said it expected an earnings hit of GBP100 million and GBP150 million in 2026 and 2027 from the gambling duty changes outlined in the budget.
Entain declared a final dividend for 2025 of 9.8 pence per share, up 5.4% from 9.3p a year ago. This takes the total dividend to 19.6p, up 5.4% from 18.6p a year ago.
Shares in Entain were up 5.4% at 609.40 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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