Opap Hurt by Greek Gambling Tax Rate

OPAP FEELS THE WEIGHT OF ARDUOUS TAX RATE

And tough economic conditions.

Greek gaming operator OPAP felt the impact of the Hellenic Republic’s onerous 35 percent tax on gross gaming revenues, in addition to continued tough economic conditions, in its latest set of results for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2016.

Key performance highlights for the three and nine month periods include:

–    Gross gaming revenues (GGR) in the third quarter of Euro 319 million (Q3/2015: Euro 300.9 million), up 6.1 percent.  9M/2016 GGR remained flat at Euro 998 million.

–    Third quarter net gaming revenue (NGR) rose 6.4 percent y-o-y.  9M/2016 was Euro 410.9 million (9M/2015: Euro 446.4 million), a decrease of 7.9 percent.

–    EBITDA decreased to Euro 62.3 million (Q3/2015: Euro 87.1 million), down 28.4 percent.  9M/2016 was Euro 265.1 million, a 3 percent drop y-o-y.

–    Net profit in Q3/2016 amounted to Euro 29.3 million  (Q3/2015: Euro 49.1 million).  9M/2016 was Euro 115.1 million, a decrease of 27.6 percent from Euro 159.1 million in 9M/2015.

–    Total sports betting revenues reached Euro 92.5 million during the third quarter, down 2.6 percent y-o-y.  9M/2016 reached Euro 289.3 million (9M/2015: Euro 307.4 million), a decrease of 5.9 percent.

“Looking forward, we do not expect any material improvement in the economic environment, but we will continue to execute the delivery of OPAP’s key strategic priorities as part of our ‘2020 Vision’,” chief executive officer, Damian Cope, said.

“In the last few months we have already made tangible progress on each of them and are particularly pleased that we are now able to re-start the long-awaited VLT project. This, together with our other key initiatives, means that 2017 will be a busy year delivering considerable change and acting as the foundation for profitable, long-term growth for the benefit of all our stakeholders”