Online gaming company also announced the successful refinancing of its debt
Companies: Entain PLC
International sports betting and gaming specialist GVC Holdings Plc has told investors that it expects revenues to beat guidance when released in March, after the FTSE 250 firm enjoyed a bumper fourth quarter.
The company, whose brands include partypoker, partycasino, foxybingo, sportingbet, betboo.com, and casino club also announced the successful refinancing of a €386m loan to Cerberus Business Finance with existing cash and a €250m loan from Nomura International plc. This is on improved terms to the Cerberus loan:
"As previously stated, under the new facility the Group's interest payments will be materially lower (c€40m) in 2017, than they would have been had the Cerberus loan remained in place."
NGR (Net Gaming Revenues) per day increased 7% in the quarter compared to the same period last year, which is particularly positive news considering the adverse sports results in the last few weeks of 2016 and the strong comparative Q4 in 2015. Management said this was because of the diversity of its business:
"The international diversity of our business combined with a proven portfolio of both sports and gaming brands helped cushion us against particularly punter friendly sports results in the UK and adverse currency movements in some of our markets."
GVC's Board said that due to the strong last quarter of the year, it expects Group NGR for the year to 31 December to be ahead of previous guidance, with EBITDA to be towards the "upper end" of market expectations.
Net debt is forecast to be c.€140m, with gross cash of €373m. GVC said it will pay a 12.5p special dividend on 14 February.
CEO Kenneth Alexander said 2016 had been a "landmark" year for the Group, as it undertook its largest and "most ambitious" acquisition to date.
"Through the tremendous hard work of our people, we achieved and exceeded many of our goals and once again we were able to create significant shareholder value. In addition to returning bwin.party to growth, we remain on target to secure €125m of synergies by the end of the current year."
Mr Alexander continued that 2017 had started well, with momentum from 2016 carrying on into the new year:
"Pro forma daily NGR for the month of January was up 21% (23% in constant currency) against the same period in 2016.
Our strategy of pursuing international diversification and scale, through the leverage of our proprietary technology and talented people, is more relevant today than ever. We are excited about the organic opportunities for the Group in 2017 and beyond, but also remain alive to further industry consolidation."
Shares in GVC opened up c.4% in early trading on Thursday.
