Playtech plc: Q1 trading update 

Playtech (LSE: PTEC) the international designer, developer, licensor and provider of software and services for the online, mobile, TV and land-based gaming industry, today announces its trading update the first quarter of 2015 together with an update on trading to date in the second quarter.

 

	Q1 2015 (€m)	Q1 2014 €m)	Change vs Q1 2014	Q4 2014 (€m)	Change vs Q4 2014
Casino	70.9	55.4	28%	65.7	8%
Services	37.8	29.7	27%	37.5	1%
Land-based	8.3	2.8	198%	7.3	14%
Sports	7.3	5.6	31%	6.9	6%
Bingo	5.0	4.0	24%	4.4	12%
Poker	3.2	3.8	-17%	3.1	3%
Total revenue	134.9	102.7	31%	126.2	7%

 

Financial highlights

• Strong performance across regions and product verticals, both from existing and new business and from acquisitions
• increased revenues from regulated markets of 40% in Q1 2015, up from 34% in Q1 2014
• increasing majority of total European revenues from regulated markets
• Total revenues up 31% vs Q1 2014 on a reported basis (not adjusted for the impact of the UK POC tax which negatively impacted Q1 2015 revenues)
• excluding acquisitions, reported revenue growth was 29%
• 16% growth at constant currency (excluding acquisitions) due to significant Euro weakness
• Daily average revenues up 9% in Q1 2015 vs strong Q4 2014 (3% at constant currency excluding acquisitions)

 

Operational highlights

• Continued delivery on strategy supporting accelerated growth across all business areas with a strong focus on regulated revenues
• New licensees signed together with more products and services provided to existing licensees, including
• 20-year extension with RAY – the longest ever deal for both companies
• extension with Ladbrokes into desktop sports front-end offering
• signing of LeoVegas on the Playtech Open Platform
• Progress in product and with industry-leading omni-channel solution, including
• strong demand for unique omni-channel offering, Playtech ONE
• launch of Rainbow Riches™ Bingo – the first ever bingo variant of the cross-channel brand
• industry-first Virtual Sports features unveiled
• industry’s first Apple Watch app launched with Coral, further licensees to be launched soon
• Acquisitions to augment organic growth
• TradeFX announced in April 2015 – shareholder approval obtained, together with FCA license obtained by Playtech ahead of completion
• Yoyo Games announced in February 2015 to enhance social gaming offering

 

Current trading and outlook

• Average daily revenue for the first 25 days of Q2 2015 up over 25% on Q2 2014
• Confidence in strong growth in 2015 and beyond

Mor Weizer, Chief Executive Officer of Playtech, commented:

“Playtech has seen a strong start to 2015 with continued execution against our strategy which has delivered both on an operational and financial basis. We have signed new licensees, furthered our relationship with existing licensees and continued to lead industry innovation, including launching an app for the Apple Watch on the day it was released, and saw further progress with Playtech ONE initiatives.

“We also announced two important strategic transactions with the acquisition of TradeFX, an online CFDs and binary options broker and trading platform provider which is highly complementary to Playtech’s existing business and Yoyo Games, enhancing our social gaming offering.

“The strong start we have made to the year, together with the progress we continue to make in all aspects of the business both on an organic and inorganic basis, gives me great confidence in our ability to deliver strong growth in 2015 and beyond.”

Source: Playtech plc

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