{"id":20683,"date":"2026-03-19T08:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=20683"},"modified":"2026-04-19T07:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:35:40","slug":"sun-international-announces-special-dividend-following-steady-casino-performance-and-sunbet-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/sun-international-announces-special-dividend-following-steady-casino-performance-and-sunbet-growth","title":{"rendered":"Sun International announces special dividend following steady casino performance and SunBet growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Operator reports stable 2025 results, with casino market share gains and strong SunBet growth supporting increased shareholder payouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Africa.- South African gaming and hospitality group Sun International <\/strong>has declared a special dividend <\/strong>after reporting stable financial results for the year ended 31 December 2025, supported by steady casino performance<\/strong> and continued growth from its digital betting platform SunBet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company announced a final ordinary dividend of 252 cents per share, bringing the total ordinary dividend for the year to 424 cents per share, an \u201cincrease of 6.5 per cent<\/strong> from 398 cents in 2024\u201d, according to Moneyweb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the board declared a special dividend of 100 cents per share, equivalent to approximately R256m (\u20ac13m), payable from available cash reserves<\/strong>. With the special dividend included, total payouts <\/strong>for the second half of the financial year will reach around R900m (\u20ac45m), while the final ordinary dividend alone amounts to roughly R644m (\u20ac32m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulrik Bengtsson<\/strong>, CEO of Sun International, said: \u201cIn H2, Sun International delivered a solid performance <\/strong>broadly in line with growth achieved in the first half of 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement was positively received by investors, with Sun International\u2019s share price rising more than 9 per cent to above R40 per share<\/strong> following the release of the results. The announcement follows an earlier trading update <\/a>in which Sun International forecast a potential 35-40 per cent increase in headline earnings per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The group reported income<\/strong> of R12.9bn (\u20ac645m) for the year excluding the Table Bay Hotel, representing growth of 7.1 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When including the hotel, which was closed for several months while its owners, the V&A Waterfront, completed a R1bn (\u20ac50m) refurbishment<\/strong>, total group income increased 3.2 per cent to R13bn (\u20ac650m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adjusted headline earnings per share rose 6.4 per cent to 565 cents, up from 531 cents in the previous year, while the company maintained a net debt<\/strong> to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.5 times, reflecting what it described as a strong balance sheet <\/strong>position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casino market share and online betting growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sun International said its land-based casino portfolio increased<\/strong> market share to 46 per cent, up 0.6 percentage points, outperforming<\/strong> a broader decline in the overall market. The group\u2019s online betting platform SunBet<\/strong> recorded a fourth consecutive year of strong growth across key metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the company, SunBet income in the second half of the year increased by 79.8 per cent compared with 2024, while active player <\/strong>days rose by more than 70 per cent, reflecting higher engagement<\/strong> among users. Across the company\u2019s resorts and hotels division<\/strong>, excluding the Table Bay Hotel, food, beverage and room revenues increased by 6.9 per cent during the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bengtsson described 2025 as a transition year<\/strong> for the company as it strengthens its digital gaming strategy. He said the group is progressing towards becoming a digitally led, market-leading omni-channel gaming operator, supported by a five-year value creation plan<\/strong> that will be outlined during a capital markets presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also reported improving returns from its investment at Sun City Resort<\/strong>, where gaming and hospitality revenues strengthened during the second half of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Sun International forecasts up to 40% rise in headline earnings per share<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Operator reports stable 2025 results, with casino market share gains and strong SunBet growth supporting increased shareholder payouts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Sun International, a prominent South African gaming and hospitality group, reported stable financial results for 2025, driven by land-based casino market share gains and robust growth from its digital betting platform, SunBet. This performance facilitated an increased ordinary dividend and the declaration of a special dividend, positively influencing its share price. The company is strategically progressing towards becoming a digitally led, omni-channel gaming operator.","focusai_entities":"Sun International, SunBet, Ulrik Bengtsson, Moneyweb, V&A Waterfront","focusai_location":"South Africa","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Digital Strategy Funding","query":"How will Sun International's declared special dividend and capital allocation strategy impact the funding and execution timeline of its five-year value creation plan for digital transformation?"},{"label":"Omni-channel Integration Challenges","query":"What specific operational and technological challenges does Sun International anticipate in integrating its land-based casino portfolio with the rapidly growing SunBet digital platform to achieve a truly omni-channel experience?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60022,60011],"tags":[60108,60037,60036],"class_list":["post-20683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","category-south-africa","tag-casino","tag-finance","tag-igaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20683"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20716,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683\/revisions\/20716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}