Flutter revenue up 37% year-on-year

Flutter Entertainment has reported full-year revenue of £6.04bn.

UK.- The FTSE100 gaming group Flutter Entertainment has reported its full year results for 2021. Revenue rose 37 per cent to £6.04bn but EBITDA fell by 6 per cent to £723m and the group made an operating loss of £288m.  

Flutter said it expects to continue to build its presence internationally and strong trading to continue after its recreational customer base grew by 23 per cent to 7.6 million average monthly players. It also said its acquisition of Italy’s Sisal will play a key role in its international growth and that group revenue in 2022 was up 2 per cent year-on-year for the first seven weeks.

Flutter CEO Peter Jackson said: “2021 was another strong year for the group as we made good progress against our strategic objectives and grew our recreational customer base to over 7.6 million customers.

“Yesterday we launched our new sustainability strategy, our ‘Positive Impact Plan’, which will see Flutter set a positive agenda for future change. Through this strategy we will build on the significant progress already made in areas such as safer gambling and measure our performance against defined goals to demonstrate how we are responsible leaders in our industry.”

He added: “Notwithstanding regulatory changes in Germany, Netherlands and elsewhere, we saw good momentum across key markets such as Brazil, Canada and Georgia. In addition, the announcement of our acquisition of Sisal will further enhance both the quality and shape of our international division.”

Flutter’s The Stars Group (TSG) merger completed in May 2020 and contributed significant revenue growth. Despite a challenging final quarter, it maintained its position in the British and Irish markets with a 29 per cent market share. Its Australian online market share grew to 50 per cent. 

Jackson said: “We also welcomed Tombola, the UK’s leading recreational bingo brand, to the group in early January. In Australia, Sportsbet delivered another strong performance demonstrating once again the benefits of securing a gold medal position in our key markets.

“In International, investments made since acquiring PokerStars have put it on a more sustainable footing and while this has resulted in reduced profitability, the necessary foundations for future growth are now in place.”

Flutter said it would watch the situation in Ukraine. After Flutter’s merger with TSG, Ukraine contributed £41m and Russia £19m to group earnings in 2021. 

Flutter Entertainment’s PokerStars was due to terminate its online gambling offering in Georgia yesterday. It didn’t say why but the Georgian government is planning to introduce new gambling legislation that would significantly restrict business. 

See also: Two veteran directors to leave Flutter