ZEAL Network reports 65% increase in net profit
German lottery operator sees EBITDA increase by 25%, with new customer sign-ups also rising 12% year-on-year
ZEAL Network has posted a 25% year-on-year (YoY) increase in EBITDA to €22m (£19.28m) for the first nine months of 2022.
Net profit for the German lottery operator also soared by 65.7% YoY, reaching €12.1m, while EBIT figures rose by 39.6% to €15.5m.
The Hamburg-based company posted a solid increase of 14% YoY in revenue, hitting €74.5m, with the firm noting the market environment for lotteries in Germany was better than in previous years, with the number of bigger jackpots back to a statistical average.
ZEAL also said that billings increased moderately to €544.4m, an increase of 10.4% YoY.
Elsewhere, new customers registered by the operator rose to 501,000, up 55,000 from the figures posted in 2021.
Jonas Mattsson, CFO of ZEAL Network, said: “We are proud of our continued growth trajectory, which proves that we have also taken the right measures in the first nine months of 2022 to improve even further both in terms of customers and results.
Recently, ZEAL announced a public buyback offer of up to 714.285 shares of the firm, which equates to around 3.2% of the share capital.
The offer price is €28 per share, which is approximately 9.9% above the stock exchange price of ZEAL. This offer will run until 29 November 2022. Mattsson touched on this subject in the financial report.
He commented: “With the share buyback offer, we want to further optimise the capital structure of ZEAL Network. In addition, we look forward to continuing to make our products accessible to more and more new target groups through targeted partnerships, thus systematically further expanding our reach.”
ZEAL also stated that for the rest of the fiscal year it still plans to expand its market leadership and expects billings to reach at least €750m, with revenue reaching at least €105m. ZEAL also expects adjusted EBITDA to reach €30m.
ZEAL CEO Helmut Becker spoke exclusively to EGR about what the awarding of the follow-up licence to broker lotteries in Germany means for the firm and what he thinks are the keys to success in the lottery market.