William Hill owner evoke had 11 per cent growth in international revenue to thank in Q1 as CEO Per Widerström admitted UK&I online and retail growth was “behind where we wanted to be.”
The gambling operator group posted Q1 revenue of £437m, up one per cent.
As of April 22, year-to-date revenue growth of four per cent is down on evoke’s annual target of between five per cent and nine per cent.
The company said it expects “stronger year-on-year growth” from Q2 onwards, with full-year 2025 revenue growth expected to be “consistent” with its annual target.
Q1 adjusted EBITDA was “significantly higher” year-on-year at over £330m, in line with guidance.
The gambling operator group said the acquisition of Winner has led to strong growth in Romania, with 888 Romania migrated onto the localised Winner platform.
In the UK and Ireland markets, online revenue fell by one per cent. Three per cent growth in gaming was offset by the introduction of safer gabling measures.
What’s more, evoke did not carry out the same “elevated” promotional activity as Q1 last year, which led to a 21 per cent drop in active players.
Looking forward, though, evoke said its roll-out of improved product and customer management tools led to strong growth in average revenue per user, up 26 per cent.
Retail revenues were down six per cent year-on-year with gaming revenues “broadly stable” and up six per cent from Q4 2024.
But evoke said a decline in betting impacted by both stakes and a lower win margin year-on-year played a role in the drop-off.
Evoke noted that retail is playing catch-up with online in its 2024 results in March, with the company detailing its investment plans in the land-based sector.
They include the roll-out of 5,000 new gaming cabinets in mid-March, which evoke said drove a “significant improvement in gaming revenue run-rates and market share gains in the period.”
Widerström said: “We are building momentum in the right areas of the business with particularly strong growth across our international core markets. Whilst the UK&I online and retail performance was behind where we wanted to be in Q1, we have moved swiftly to improve some of the underlying drivers of the performance and have been seeing stronger trends in April.
“With improved customer lifecycle management, a clear customer value proposition, new retail gaming cabinets and an exciting product pipeline, we remain highly confident in our market position and the growth profile of the business.
“We are moving decisively and at pace to position evoke for long-term success and to drive significant value, and I look forward to providing further updates about our progress as the year progresses."
