World Cup boost pushes Q2 Unibet profits up 38%

Unibet profits soared by 38% in Q2 after a bumper World Cup saw turnover exceeded £112m, the company announced in its half year results this morning.

Underlying EBITDA in the second quarter stood at £16.7m on the back of a 24% rise in gross gaming revenue (GGR) to £77.1m with active customers up 38% in the period.

When including its non-cash net gain from the disposal of its B2B sportsbook business Kambi, Q2 profit soared to £53.7m and £75.1 for H1 2014.

Unibet’s total GGR for the first six months of the year was up 19% to £153.6m, and CEO Henrik Tjärnström praised the operator’s focus on efficiency for the rise.

GGR from the group’s casino and games business rose 6% sequentially to £37.5m, however poker GGR recorded its second successive quarter of decline dropping by almost a third to £1.7m for the quarter.

Tjärnström also highlighted improved mobile performance during the first half of the year, stating that the mobile channel accounted for 32% of the total gross win revenue and 47% of sportsbook gross win.

Total GGR from the World Cup stood at £16m, contributing towards a 40% increase in sports betting GGR for Q2 to £31.9m.

H1 sports betting turnover was up 32% to £64.8m and almost half of the £112m turnover from the tournament derived from in-play betting.

The majority of Unibet’s growth in sports betting occurred from Western European, with GGR from the region almost doubling year-on-year while revenue from its central, eastern and southern Europe (CESE) business dropped by 21%.

However, Gaming revenues in the CESE region grew by 17% in Q2, compared to 30% in Western Europe, and overall revenues for the region are 9% ahead of 2013 for the year to date.

Unibet’s share price rose by almost 3% to 350.5p in early morning trading.