Entain raises profit forecasts after strong performance in first half of 2021

Ladbrokes Coral owner Entain has raised its profit forecasts for 2021 after revealing a strong performance for the first half of the year in a trading update on Thursday.

The company said it now expected ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) for 2021 to be in the range of £850 million to £900m, ahead of current consensus.

Total group net gaming revenue (NGR) was up 11 per cent for the first half and 42 per cent in the second quarter, driven by sports betting and reflecting the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on sports in 2020.

Entain reported "strong online performance" across the first half of the year with NGR up 28 per cent while in retail NGR was down 42 per cent in the first half due to closures for much of the period.

However, the company said there had been encouraging early trends in betting shops in the UK since restrictions have been progressively eased, with volumes returning to around ten per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

In the United States, Entain said BetMGM, the group’s joint venture with MGM Resorts, continued to perform strongly and was the number two operator for sports betting and iGaming with 21 per cent market share and first half NGR of around $350m (approx 254m/€297m).

Entain chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen

Entain chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen said the company had delivered "another strong performance", adding: "Our diversified business model has enabled us to grow our business in all key markets while navigating channel and product mix changes as retail re-opens and we annualise last year’s restricted sports calendar."

Outside Germany, where regulatory changes are taking place, Nygaard-Andersen said Entain had seen "excellent growth" across all their major markets, with recent acquisitions Bet.pt in Portugal and Enlabs in the Baltics performing ahead of expectations.

She went on: "We have a powerful platform at Entain that enables us to deliver consistent growth from our existing markets, whilst also entering new markets, all powered by our industry leading technology capabilities, business intelligence and analytics.

"Our platform provides us with a significant opportunity to align our business better with our customers and increasingly deliver a wider breadth of exciting products, content and experiences as the worlds of media, entertainment and gaming converge.

"Following our strong first half, we are upgrading our expectations for the full year and we remain confident and excited by the breadth and scale of the long-term sustainable growth opportunities ahead of us."

Analyst David Brohan at Goodbody described the announcement as "another very strong update from Entain".

He added: "This morning's release should be very well received by the market."

Entain's share price ended the day's trading up 13p at 1,820.5p.

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