3rd Mar 2016 07:02
3 March 2016
LADBROKES PLC
Coral Group
Financial results for the 16 weeks ended 16 January 2016
Gala Coral Group Limited ("Gala Coral") has today announced its financial results for the sixteen weeks ended 16 January 2016. The full announcement can be viewed on the following website:
http://www.galacoral.co.uk/financial-centre/results-centre/2016
In accordance with Listing Rule 5.6.15G(4), Ladbrokes plc ("the Company") discloses the following extract from Gala Coral's financial results in relation to the Coral Group (comprising Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail and Online, but excluding Gala Retail) for the sixteen weeks ended 16 January 2016:
Overview
Net revenue of £333.3m was £47.1m or 16% ahead of last year and EBITDA{1/2} of £62.4m was £7.9m or 14% ahead, with growth in both Retail divisions and Online. Adjusting FY15 for the impact of regulation{3}, EBITDA{1/2} increased by £23.1m or 59% versus last year. UK football margins improved significantly from last year, where the comparative period contains the impact of exceptionally adverse football margins on Boxing Day 2014 and the weekend of 17/18th January 2015 (estimated adverse EBITDA impact of £14.1m).
Coral Retail
Coral Retail EBITDA{1} of £40.7m was £0.2m ahead of last year and £9.6m or 31% ahead after adjusting for the impact of regulation{3}. OTC stakes were £5.5m or 1% ahead with football stakes 10% ahead. OTC gross win margin of 18.2% was 1.5pp ahead, driven by horse racing margins 0.8pp ahead, and a recovery in football margins which were 7.9pp ahead of the very poor margins experienced in Q1 FY15, but were still around 4pp behind expected levels.
Machines net revenue was £4.1m or 4% ahead of last year with gross-win-per-machine-per-week increasing by 5% to £1,020 primarily due to increased B3 content.
Operating costs were £4.2m or 4% higher than last year due to estate development (+0.5%), payroll annual salary reviews and increased investment in staff training, and a higher number of rent reviews than in the same quarter last year.
The total number of LBOs at the end of the quarter was 1,834, a reduction of 16 since the year-end, with 21 LBOs closing and 5 opening.
Eurobet Retail
Eurobet Retail EBITDA{1} was £2.9m or 132% ahead of last year (£3.1m or 158% ahead on a constant currency basis).
Sports stakes were 19% ahead of last year driven by the shop optimisation programme whereby 250 shops were relocated to more profitable locations. Sports margin was 5.9pp ahead of FY15, although still behind expectations. Q1 Sports net revenue of £19.6m was £8.6m or 78% ahead of last year.
Retail sports market share continued to grow, up 2.4pp versus last year to 16.1% at the end of the quarter.
Online
Online EBITDA{1} of £18.5m was £6.6m or 55% ahead of last year and 194% ahead after adjusting FY15 for the full year impact of Point of Consumption tax{3}.
Coral.co.uk net revenue of £47.6m was £19.5m or 69% ahead of last year. Sports net revenue of £19.4m was £12.3m or 173% ahead, with sports stakes growth of 50% driven by a 39% increase in first-time depositors, improved churn rates and a 28% increase in spend-per-head. Connect customers now contribute over 40% of coral.co.uk total net revenue, of which around half is contributed by customers either new to coral.co.uk or reactivated. In addition to better football margins, improved customer management helped deliver a competitive sports gross win margin (2016: 8.3% 2015 4.9%). Bet-in-Play stakes represented 48.8% of total sports stakes (excluding horse racing) while mobile accounted for 70.4% of sports stakes, an increase of 9.3pp from Q1 FY15.
Coral.co.uk gaming net revenue of £28.2m was £7.2m or 34% ahead of last year with strong growth in actives (+45%). Mobile accounted for 71.3% of gaming stakes, an increase of 10.1pp from Q1 FY15.
Galabingo.com net revenue of £25.8m was £3.9m or 18% ahead of last year. Further improvements to the VIP programme and the continuation of the 'Play Happy' TV campaign during the quarter helped drive volume growth with actives 20% ahead of last year and spend-per-head 4% ahead. Mobile represented 56.4% of stakes, an increase of 11.8pp from Q1 FY15.
Eurobet.it net revenue of £14.5m was £4.3m or 42% ahead of last year. Sports net revenue of £7.4m was £3.6m or 95% ahead, with sports stakes 55% ahead and an improvement in football margins against a poor Q1 in FY15. Gaming net revenue of £7.1m was £0.7m or 11% higher than last year.
{1} | EBITDA is stated pre-exceptional items and represents the 16 week periods ending 16 January 2016 and 17 January 2015 |
{2} | EBITDA includes all revenue and expenses for the Coral Group and excludes Gala Retail (Q1 FY16: £9.9m and Q1 FY15: £12.1m) and Propco rental income (Q1 FY16: £0.0m and Q1 FY15: £5.7m) |
{3}
| FY15 EBITDA (pre-exceptionals) has been rebased for the estimated impact of Point of Consumption Tax (-£5.8m, of which Online -£5.6m) and the increase in rate of MGD to 25% and DCMS FOBT higher staking restrictions (Coral Retail -£9.4m), calculated as if all changes had been in existence for the corresponding periods in FY15 |
{4} | Net revenue is calculated as gross win less free bets and customer bonuses |
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The information contained in this announcement is not for release, publication or distribution to persons in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the Republic of South Africa or the United States or in any jurisdiction where to do so would breach any applicable law. No public offer of securities is being made by virtue of this announcement.
This announcement has been prepared for the purposes of complying with the applicable law and regulation of the United Kingdom and the information disclosed may not be the same as that which would have been disclosed if this announcement had been prepared in accordance with the laws and regulations of any jurisdiction outside of the United Kingdom.
No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit forecast of the Company or a profit estimate of the Company and no statement in this announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of the Company for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per share of the Company.
Certain figures contained in this announcement, including financial information, have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, in certain instances, the sum or percentage change of the numbers contained in this announcement may not conform exactly with the total figure given.
This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute a prospectus or offering memorandum or an offer in respect of any securities and is not intended to provide the basis for any decision in respect of the Company or any other entity and should not be considered as a recommendation that any investor should subscribe for or purchase any such securities. Neither the issue of this announcement nor any part of its contents constitutes an offer to sell or invitation to purchase any securities of the Company or any other entity and no information set out in this announcement or referred to in other written or oral information is intended to form the basis of any contract of sale, investment decision or any decision to purchase any securities in it.
Related Shares:
Ladbrokes Coral