Great Q1 Earnings for Fortuna Entertainment
Tuesday May 7,2013 : ONLINE REVENUES BOOST CZECH GAMBLING GROUP
Internet sports betting gross win in Q1 2013 increased by 33.8 percent to Euro 13.6 million
Czech online and land betting company Fortuna Entertainment Group posted a 34.4 percent increase in EBITDA in the first quarter 2013 to Euro 11.3 million, with online operations making a substantial contribution.
The steep increase was mainly due to strong growth in sports betting and a positive lottery EBITDA, the company said Tuesday.
The reported financial results confirmed a robust performance, which was a continuation of what was seen in the previous reporting period, as well as outstanding top line figures for all key parameters, and confirmed growth in the main markets where the company operates.
* Total Amounts Staked in Q1 2013 increased by 24 percent to Euro 141.2 million
* Total Gross Win in Q1 2013 up by 9 percent to Euro 33.5 million
* Online sports betting Gross Win in Q1 2013 increased by 33.8 percent to Euro 13.6 million
* Total EBITDA in Q1 2013 grew by 34.4 percent to Euro 11.3 million
Amounts staked across the group for the first quarter of 2013 were Euro 141.2 million, a strong 24 percent y-o-y increase. This growth was driven primarily by the expansion of online betting in the national markets in Europe where Fortuna operates.
Amount staked on sports betting reached Euro 137.1 million in the first quarter of 2013, a 26.2 percent improvement on the first quarter of 2012, whilst amount staked on lottery betting in the first quarter of 2013 totalled Euro 4.2 million.
The Gross Win from sports betting was Euro 31.4 million, an 11.7 percent increase y-o-y. Of this figure, the Gross Win from online betting in the first quarter of 2013 increased to EUR 13.6 million, a substantial gain of 33.8 percent over the same period of 2012.
Gross Win from retail betting in the first quarter of 2013 amounted to Euro 17.8 million, a 0.8 percent decline y-o-y. In the first quarter of 2013, the Gross Win from the lottery business was Euro 2.1 million.
In the first quarter of 2013, total EBITDA increased to Euro 11.3 million, a 34.4 percent increase over the same period of last year. The total is drawn from a 17.4 percent growth in sports betting to Euro 11.3 million and a positive lottery EBITDA of Euro 40,000.
Radim Haluza, CEO of Fortuna Entertainment Group said:
“We are pleased to once more report very solid results, this time for the first quarter of 2013. The results confirm a continuation of the strong momentum that started at the end of last year.
"The main driver of our performance was clearly the online segment in sports betting which continues to deliver double-digit growth in all the countries where Fortuna is present. In addition, we are reporting positive EBITDA in the lottery segment for the first time, which has also boosted our profitability.”
Haluza said that management is proposing to the upcoming AGM to be held this month to pay out a dividend of Euro 0.67 per share consisting of a dividend from the 2012 net profit, a dividend from retained earnings and a share premium distribution.
