Cirsa: operating profit falls 67.7% due to Covid-19 impact

Spain’s Cirsa has reported operating revenue of €156.4m and operating profit of €28.6m for the first quarter.

Spain.- The land-based and online gambling operator Cirsa has reported that operating profit fell 67.7 per cent year-on-year in Q1, coming in at €28.6m. Operating revenue fell by 56 per cent to €156.4m.

Cirsa said the results were due to the impact of closures and restrictions owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. It said reduced opening hours and capacities caused the number of productive hours for the quarter from January to March to fall by 66 per cent compared to a conventional quarter before the pandemic.

Cirsa’s operating profit was down by 73.3 per cent in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 after initial growth was derailed by the pandemic.

Cirsa said: “These results respond to the closures and continued restrictions on schedules and capacity derived from the pandemic, which continued to impact all markets and businesses in which the company is present during January, February and until mid-March.”

The impact of Covid-19 restrictions on land-based gaming

In Cirsa’s native Spain, casinos, bingo halls, gaming rooms and the hospitality channel in almost all autonomous communities were affected. The region of Catalonia was impacted the most, with venues closed from October 2020 until March 2021.

Its Sportium online brand was the only business that was able to operate fully during the first quarter.

In Latin America, casinos in Panama and Peru were closed for more than two months in the first quarter. Activity in Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic was affected by sporadic closures and heavy restrictions on opening hours and capacity through the quarter. In Morocco and Italy, business still remains closed.

Cirsa said: “In all places where reopenings and the lifting of restrictions are taking place, confirmation of a rapid recovery of revenues continues.

“That, together with immediate and flexible management of costs and the solid liquidity position, allow the Group to confront, with full guarantees, the operating restrictions that are expected in the coming months until normal activity resumes.”

Cirsa was founded in 1978 by Manuel Lao Hernández and began to expand into Latin America in 1990. It was acquired by the Blackstone Group in April 2018. 

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