Evoke hails return to growth in full-year results
The former 888 Holdings has reported a rise in revenue, but losses grew.
UK.- Evoke Plc, the former 888 Holdings, has reported a 3 per cent rise in full-year revenue for 2024, marking a return to growth for the first time since its acquisition of William Hill’s European assets in 2022. However, the London-listed operator’s net loss widened.
Revenue for 2024 was £1.75bn, driven by strong online growth, particularly in the second half. The UK & Ireland unit generated online revenue of £693m, up by 5.3 per cent, but retail revenue fell by 5.4 per cent to £506.1m, resulting in a 13.7 per cent drop in adjusted EBITDA to £209.1m.
International operations fared better, with revenue climbing by 7.3 per cent to £555.2m and adjusted EBITDA rising by 30.8 per cent to £130m. Strong growth was observed in Italy, Spain and Denmark. The integration of Winner.ro in Romania is expected to drive continued international growth this year.
The group said it had achieved the objectives for the first year of its Value Creation Plan (VCP), but group EBITDA for the full year was down 9 per cent at £230m. The net loss of £191m is nearly triple the £65.2m loss recorded in 2023 due to debt and refinancing costs totalling £168m and exceptional items of £162m relating to Evoke’s exit from its US joint venture as well as VCP initiatives and amortisation charges.
Evoke CEO Per Widerström said: “2024 was a pivotal year for Evoke as we launched and implemented our new strategy for success, radically transforming almost every area of the business and moving decisively to create a more sustainable, profitable and cash-generative company.
“Whilst a transformation of this scale is never easy, I am pleased with the strong progress we made during the year as we built a winning team and delivered a consistently great customer experience. I am very proud of how our teams embraced the major changes implemented during 2024 and would like to thank all my colleagues for their continued skill and commitment.”
For 2025, Evoke forecasts overall revenue growth of 5 to 9 per cent and an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20 per cent. It expects to gain another £15m to £25m in annual cost savings, but Q1 revenue is expected to be hit by new safer gambling measures in the UK.
Widerström added: “We remain laser-focused on our core markets of the UK, Italy, Spain, Romania and Denmark. These markets – where we have strong brands and market positions – now represent approximately 90% of our revenue, with each boasting attractive long-term growth potential, high barriers to entry and established regulatory frameworks.
“2025 is shaping up to be another exciting year for Evoke. While Q1 revenue growth is expected to be low single digit, we remain highly confident in our full-year expectations of 5–9% growth, in addition to driving further margin expansion through our more efficient operating model. Our exciting product pipeline, continued UK retail optimisation programme, and ever-improving capabilities around data and personalisation all reinforce my confidence in making further progress in 2025 as we continue to execute against our plans to create significant shareholder value.”
See also: Entain posts £460m loss for 2024
