FDJ revenue rises across all segments, with more growth expected following Kindred acquisition
Full-year revenue was up by 12 per cent year-on-year.
France.- Groupe Française des Jeux (FDJ) has reported revenue growth that Q3 revenue rose by 12 per cent year-on-year to €2.09bn. Revenue was up in all segments amid the former monopoly operator’s spree of acquisitions.
Excluding international contracts and payment services, revenue from the domestic market in France reached €1.9bn, accounting for 91 per cent of all revenue. However, that’s set to change with this month’s acquisition of the Swedish online gambling operator Kindred Group, owner of the Unibet brand. The acquisition will give the operator a presence in major European regulated markets like the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden.
FDJ’s lottery unit generated €1.5bn in Q3, a rise of 6 per cent. Sports betting revenue rose 13 per cent to €407m, driven by Euro 2024 betting. Meanwhile, revenue from international and payment services rose by 75 per cent to €190m following the acquisition of Irish National Lottery operator Premier Lotteries Ireland.
Following the acquisition of Kindred, FDJ now expects reported 2024 revenue to be up by around 16 per cent year-on-year and the recurring EBITDA margin to reach 25 per cent. Kindred’s group revenue for Q3 reached £294.5m, rising 3.7 per cent year-on-year.
Chairwoman and CEO Stéphane Pallez said: “FDJ continues to deliver a solid financial and non-financial performance, which allows us to confirm our growth and profitability for the year. This performance was driven by lottery and sports betting and online gaming and by all our distribution channels, with a growing network of points of sale and strong momentum in digital games.”
FDJ added: “The [Kindred] transaction, amounting to €2.5bn for all shares, creates a European champion with a diversified and balanced profile, based on monopoly activities, primarily lotteries, in France and Ireland, and on online sports betting and gaming activities open to competition in Europe. The new combined group resulting from this offer will generate around 26 per cent of its revenue internationally, and its online gaming range open to competition will account for around 27 per cent of its revenue.”
FDJ said that Kindred had halted operations in unregulated markets, including in Norway, where the operator has had a long legal battle with the national gambling regulator.
Earlier this week, FDJ named a new chairman and three new executive directors to Kindred’s board. The move follows the resignation of chairman Evert Carlsson and Kindred’s five directors in the wake of the acquisition.
The new chairman is Pascal Chaffard, who joined FDJ in 1994 and is now EVP finance, performance and strategy. Meanwhile, Edeline Minaire and Célia Vérot become executive directors. Minaire is FDJ’s finance director, a role she’s been in for five years. Vérot took up a role as FDJ’s chief regulation officer in May 2024, coming from the civil service.
