Tombola revenue rises 15% to £120m for 2020
Sunderland-based operator buoyed by six-week lockdown period as operating profit slips 6.7% on rising cost of international expansion
Online bingo operator tombola has reported a 15% revenue rise to £120.1m for the year ended 30 April 2020 after filing its latest accounts on Companies House.
The reporting period included around six weeks of Covid-19 lockdown that saw tombola’s retail rivals impacted by bingo hall closures, especially in the UK market, as customers migrated online.
Annual operating profit declined by 6.7% to £12m as staffing costs escalated alongside expansion into international markets including Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden.
Tombola’s cost of sales came to £85.3m, up from £71.1m in the prior corresponding period as gross profit increased by 4.3% to £34.8m.
Tombola’s net cash position at year-end reached £42.9m.
According to analyst firm Regulus Partners, tombola remains the leading operator by bingo market share in the UK with around 30% of the overall market, excluding bingo-led slots.
The UK provided around 60% (£72.1m) of overall group revenue during the period.
Regulus Partners analyst Paul Leyland said: “Much like bet365, PokerStars and Evolution Gaming (the latter two historically), tombola demonstrates that being consistently very good at one thing is often better than trying to do lots of things adequately.”