2nd Nov 2021 08:56
(Alliance News) - Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment PLC on Tuesday lowered its full-year earnings guidance after a string of punter-friendly sports results in October.
Total revenue for the third quarter of the year was GBP1.44 billion, up 8.6% on GBP1.33 billion a year ago. Meanwhile, online revenue growth of 13% at constant currency was driven by Australia, up 20%, and the US, up 85%.
Flutter noted that travel restrictions applied to over 60% of the Australian population during the period, resulting in its Australian unit Sportsbet capturing additional discretionary leisure spend.
The company's US business, meanwhile, continued to lead the market in the third quarter, with a 42% share of online sports betting and an 18% share of online gaming. Flutter noted that its sportsbook and casino player numbers doubled year-on-year in the US.
For the group as a whole, the number of average monthly players increased by 13% year-on-year to 7.3 million from 6.4 million.
However, the betting operator noted that it has seen unfavourable sports results in the first 24 days of October. This has hit earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by around GBP60 million.
Combined with an expected GBP10 million hit from a temporary Netherlands exit, it now expects adjusted Ebitda for 2021, for its operations excluding the US, in the range of GBP1.24 billion to GBP1.28 billion. Previous guidance was for an adjusted Ebitda between GBP1.27 billion to GBP1.37 billion.
In the US, net revenue guidance was unchanged but Flutter now expects an adjusted Ebitda loss of between GBP250 million and GBP275 million, versus the prior range of GBP225 million to GBP275 million. This includes a GBP15 million hit from adverse sports results in October.
Chief Executive Peter Jackson stressed: "While a run of customer-friendly results in October have resulted in win margins being below expected levels in the quarter to date, the underlying strength of our business is clear; we have grown our online recreational player base by 46% in just two years. With more international jurisdictions and US states on the path to regulation, we look forward to sustainably growing our global player base further in 2022."
Flutter shares were trading 8.3% lower in London on Tuesday morning at 13,000 pence each. The wider FTSE 100 index was down 0.6%.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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