'Disappointing and not acceptable': Losses grow at William Hill owner

‘Disappointing and not acceptable’: Losses grow at William Hill owner

Aug 15, 2024

The owner of gambling brands William Hill and 888 has revealed its pre-tax losses grew to £147m in the first half of 2024.

The slump comes after the company – which rebranded from 888 Holdings to Evoke earlier this year – reported losses of £45.2m during the same period last year.

Earnings before interest and taxes also plunged by 67%, falling from £130.8m over the first six months of 2023 to £43.8m between January and June this year.

Evoke’s chief executive Per Widerstrom described the results as “disappointing and not acceptable” during a call with investors.

However, he added: “We understand exactly what went wrong and we have taken corrective actions to address the problems.”

The gambling giant has blamed the downturn on “challenging conditions on the high street” and falling behind competition from its rivals.

Chief financial officer Sean Wilkins also said returns from investments in marketing were not as good as expected.

The year-on-year decline was particularly marked in the UK, with revenue from its retail division down 8%, although online revenues for the region were up 1%.

Overall revenue slipped by 2% to £862m in the six months to the end of June.

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Mr Wilkins said Evoke had been boosted by bets on the Euros, helped further by England’s progression to the final of the football tournament.

He added: “We had very strong margins and bookie-friendly results, it was very successful for us.”

Mr Widerstrom said the business was undergoing a complete “transformation” – including via its company rebrand, a restructuring of its leadership team and other improvements – which he was confident would turn its fortunes around.

He added: “The underlying health of the business is continually getting stronger.”

Other changes have included the sale of its consumer-facing 888 gambling business in the US to Hard Rock Digital.

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It comes only days after rival Flutter, which owns brands including Paddy Power and Betfair, reported a 20% rise in revenues over the last quarter, compared with the same time last year, totalling $3.6bn (£2.8bn).

Sky News also revealed this week that the company is in talks to buy the consumer arm of Playtech, one of Italy’s biggest gambling companies, in a deal potentially worth £2bn.

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