Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - 888 Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the first half of 2023, despite revenue more than doubling, as operating expenses multiplied alongside other rising costs.
The Gibraltar-based betting operator swung to a pretax loss of GBP45.2 million in the six months that ended June 30 from a profit of 14.4 million a year earlier, even as revenue leapt to GBP881.6 million from GBP332.1 million.
Operating expenses multiplied to GBP400.2 million from GBP76.2 million.
This was alongside gaming duties more than trebling to GBP190.9 million from GBP62.3 million, while other cost of sales almost doubled to GBP103.1 million from GBP58.2 million.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation multiplied to GBP155.6 million from GBP50.0 million, but with depreciation and amortisation costs multiplying to GBP106.4 million from GBP12.0 million.
Executive Chair Jonathan Mendelsohn was positive about the results.
"I am very pleased with the progress we have made in the first half of the year as the group delivered against the plans we committed to at our investor day last year, while also successfully navigating business, market and regulatory volatility," said Mendelsohn.
"We made very strong progress with the execution of our integration plan and we now expect to realise the full GBP150 million of synergies in 2024, a year earlier than the original plan. Our strong cash discipline and higher profits also enabled a 0.5 times reduction in our leverage.
"We have successfully delivered against our focused market strategy, changing the mix of our revenue and creating a more profitable and sustainable platform for future growth."
Looking ahead, 888 expects 2023 revenue to be lower than proforma 2022 by a low-to-mid single digit percentage.
"The slower than anticipated recovery in the Middle East means revenues are likely to be at the mid single digit end of this range," the company said.
Meanwhile, 888 expects adjusted Ebitda to be "significantly higher" on a proforma basis from a year earlier, with an adjusted Ebitda margin of at least 20% for the full year.
Shares in 888 were down 2.3% to 107.10 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
