OPAP H1 profits up 40%
Stihima sportsbook revenues up 9.7% to 1.9bn in H1 as Greek monopoly teases new product additions
OPAP has reported a 40% surge in H1 profits to 144.9m as the company’s recently launched Stihima sportsbook product helped boost the operator’s online revenues.
The Greek monopoly operator did not break down online sportsbook’s contribution, but total revenues rose 9.7% to just over 1.9bn and the firm’s sports betting product across digital and retail was the only division to report growth in the period, up 31% year-on-year to 773.5m.
OPAP cited the product’s online launch in June this year as well as this summer’s World Cup as contributing factors to the positive performance and the vertical now represents more than 40% of total revenues, up from the 35% figure recorded last year.
The operator also teased an upscaling of its sportsbook product to include “new additions” in the coming months, and the firm revealed it has renegotiated an IT contract it signed with Intralot under “better financial terms”.
OPAP CEO Kamil Ziegler said that the group’s Q2 performance was “marked by the commencement of significant new projects” as it “continued on the growth path”.
Ziegler also referred to the firm’s ongoing restructure, which has seen more than 140 jobs cut and a voluntary redundancy scheme put into place and insisted the restructure “remains well on track”.
“We expect that efficiency gains will further arise and as such, we remain confident that OPAP will meet both its 2014 as well as longer-term targets,” he added.