Evoke Plc Regulatory News (EVOK)

17 January 2025

evoke Plc

("evoke" or "the Group")

2024 Post-close Trading Update

Double-digit revenue growth in Q4 driven by online; FY24 EBITDA expected to be at the high end of the previously announced guidance range and well above market expectations

evoke (LSE: EVOK), one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, today announces a post-close trading update for the three and 12 months ending 31 December 2024 ("Q4" and "FY24" respectively).

Financial performance

Strong performance in Q4 with Group revenue growth of approximately 12-13% year-over-year (c.13-14% in constant currency). This performance was driven by online growth of approximately 16-17% (c.18-19% in constant currency) with a continued improvement in the growth rate across Core Markets, all underpinned by the successful implementation of the Group's strategy, and supported by operator friendly sports results during Q4.

As a result, revenue growth in H2 is expected to be approximately 8%, towards the higher end of the previously communicated 5-9% guidance.

Strong cost control and an increasingly efficient operating model mean that adjusted EBITDA is expected to be at the high end of the previously communicated guidance range of £300-310m for the full year, and well ahead of market expectations1.

Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, commented:

"I am pleased to report that the improving trends we announced in Q3 further strengthened into Q4 with the business delivering double-digit revenue growth. As a result, revenue in the second half was at the high end of our 5-9% target growth range. While we were helped by some operator-friendly sports results in Q4, the significantly improved underlying momentum in the business gives me real confidence that the turnaround is working and we are well positioned to continue our growth trend into 2025.

Alongside the stronger trading performance, we continue to progress with transforming the Group's capabilities for the mid- and long-term as we strengthen our competitive advantages, in particular better aligning our leading brands and products to a clearer customer value proposition. This turnaround is all supported by a clear market strategy, with our five core markets representing approximately 90% of our Q4 revenue. We are implementing a disciplined strategy with operational excellence to drive improved profitability and enable deleveraging.

2024 was a pivotal year as we started to implement our new strategy for success, radically transforming almost every area of the business, and moved decisively and at pace to position evoke for mid- and long-term profitable growth. We go into 2025 with improving momentum as we continue to execute against our value creation plan. I look forward to outlining our progress and plans in more detail in March."

Notes

1 Analyst consensus is available on the Group's website here https://corporate.888.com/investors/shareholder-information/analyst-consensus/. The consensus average for FY24 Adjusted EBITDA as of the date of this release was £294m.

Enquiries and further information:

About evoke Plc:

evoke plc (and together with its subsidiaries, "evoke" or the "Group") is one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies. The Group owns and operates internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888, and Mr Green. Incorporated in Gibraltar, and headquartered and listed in London, the Group operates from offices around the world.

The Group's vision is to make life more interesting and its mission is to delight players with world-class betting and gaming experiences.

Find out more at: https://www.evokeplc.com

Important Notices

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions, with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of evoke. These statements, which contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "seek", "continue", "aim", "target", "projected", "plan", "goal", "achieve", words of similar meaning or other forward looking statements, reflect evoke's beliefs and expectations and are based on numerous assumptions regarding evoke's present and future business strategies and the environment evoke will operate in and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. No representation is made that any of these statements or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of evoke to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond evoke's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of regulators and other factors such as evoke's ability to continue to obtain financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and regulatory framework in which evoke operates or in economic or technological trends or conditions. Past performance of evoke cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The list above is not exhaustive and there are other factors that may cause evoke's actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date and evoke, its respective parent and subsidiary undertakings, the subsidiary undertakings of such parent undertakings, and any of such person's respective directors, officers, employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under applicable law. No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this announcement should be interpreted to mean that the financial performance of evoke for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published for evoke.