888 total revenue down 10% as CEO highlights “several areas of improvement”

888 has posted a 10% year-on-year (YoY) dip in Q3 2023 revenue to £405m, in line with the group’s previously communicated trading warning last month.

For the three months that ended 30 September, the operator said that “significant and ongoing improvements being made to the sustainability and quality of the mix of the business” impacted operations in the short-term.

Group revenue for the period fell from £449.4m in Q3 2022 to £405m. In September, the operator warned Q3 revenue would land at around £400m.

For UK and Ireland online, revenue slipped 10% from $174.4m to £157.2m, with 888 pointing to “lower-than-expected” sports betting margins due to customer-friendly results and ongoing safer gambling measures.

Of that total revenue, betting fell 17% from £65.8m to £54.4m while gaming revenue slipped slightly by 5% from £108.6m to £102.8m.

Average monthly online actives in the UK and Ireland soared 17% to 1.18 million customers.

Internationally, total revenue dropped 19% from £150.9m to £122.2m. Betting revenue was down 23% to £17.9m while gaming revenue slipped 18% to £104.3m.

Monthly actives were down slightly by 2%.

888 put this down to compliance changes to several dotcom markets, such as in the Middle East, on top of a slow recovery in “revenue and customer activity than initially anticipated”.

Strategically, the London-listed firm noted its synergy delivery was on track, with “significant cost savings being delivered”.

Elsewhere, its Section8 in-house games portfolio has been successfully integrated into William Hill’s online offering while the initial integration of Hills’ proprietary global trading platform into 888’s in-house platform has began.

Per Widerström, 888 CEO, said that while there was a strong foundation in place at the company, there were “several areas for improvement”.

Widerström added: “I am very excited to have joined the 888 group as the new CEO. I have already been struck by the strength of the group’s assets and its clear potential, as well as the ambition of our team.

“I am happy to note that despite the regulatory challenges the group has faced this year, the hard work by the team is already showing signs of results meaning that we head towards the end of the year with positive momentum, and well placed to grow in the coming years.

“This is a business with a very strong foundation for profitable growth. But there are clearly also several areas for improvement which we will focus on to unlock our full potential and drive value creation.

“I am looking forward to working closely with our fantastic people in the group, the talented executive team and the board to ensure we are in the best possible position to deliver our plans and maximise value creation,” he concluded.

888 confirmed that there were no changes to Q4 expectations in terms of revenue being down by “mid-single digit” and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18% to 19% for full-year 2023.

888’s share price was down 2.6% at the time of writing to 83.50p.