The Stars Group posts bittersweet results
Financial results for The Stars Group in the second quarter showed a 54.9% increase in revenue, but a dip in many segments, including poker.
Isle of Man.- The Stars Group disclosed its second-quarter financial results and showed bittersweet figures. The group revealed its revenue increased by 54.9% to €569 million in the three months to June 30. That helped its first-half revenue go up 51.4%, from €717.8 million to €1.07 billion. Such improvement was a result of Sky Betting and Gaming, which the group recently acquired.
However, The Stars Group revealed only gaming increased out of its three key reporting metrics. Poker and betting, on the other hand, posted dips when compared with 2018’s second quarter.
Internationally, poker revenue fell 11.7% to €170.8 million, due to adverse foreign exchange fluctuations. Continued disruptions and regulatory headwinds in some areas also hit its performance.
Meanwhile, betting revenue dropped 6.9% to €16.7 million. It was caused by a lower betting net win margin and, also, foreign exchange fluctuations’ impact.
While gaming was 2.3% up to €93 million, online sports betting was The Stars Group’s largest product vertical. Online casino followed and online poker came next.
Executives’ take on the results
“The second quarter underpinned the success of last year’s acquisitions,” Rafi Ashkenazi, The Stars Group’s CEO, said. “Particularly with the record performance of Sky Betting and Gaming and our increasing product and geographic diversification, as we continue to transform and position the business to execute on our strategy for strong, sustainable future growth.
“2019 has been and remains a year of integration, execution and debt reduction. We are committed to those key strategic priorities for the rest of the year while we also build our foundation and momentum to become a market leader in the US.
“We are confident that the actions we have taken over the last year, and are pursuing now, including to reassess our fixed cost base, put us in a strong position to deliver our mid-term growth targets from the end of 2019.”
