Interim Entain CEO Stella David backed the group to drive “organic growth into 2025 and beyond” after it reported 2023 revenue growth of 14 per cent to £4.8bn.
Reported group NGR, excluding the US, was up 11 per cent and online NGR rose by 12 per cent.
Although, Entain fell to an overall loss of £879m, reflecting the DPA settlement over its legacy Turkish business.
Retail NGR climbed nine per cent and Entain reported a record level of active customers in 2023, up 23 per cent year-on-year.
BetMGM, a joint venture between Entain and MGM Resorts, posted 2023 NGR of US$1.96bn in 2023, up 36 per cent year-on-year.
Reported group EBITDA was up one per cent to £1.01bn, with online EBITDA of £830m and retail EBITDA of £277m.
Entain said the UK’s white paper changes could pose “continued player disruption” in the short term. What’s more, it said upcoming deposit limits in the Netherlands “have the potential to impact 2024 EBITDA,” with both dynamics potentially reducing FY24 EBITDA by around £40m.
Entain chairman Barry Gibson said the group is making “positive progress” in its search for a new permanent CEO after the departure of Jette Nygaard-Andersen.
He added that the group will announce a “further appointment” to its board “shortly” after the recent hires of Ricky Sandler of key Entain investor Eminence Capital, and Amanda Brown.
Interim chief executive David added: “2023 presented a number of challenges for the Group, both industry-wide and Entain-specific. I am extremely proud of how our people around the world came together to navigate the business through an eventful and at times difficult year. Against that backdrop, Entain was still able to deliver overall revenue growth of 14% including our US joint venture achieving revenue at the top end of expectations.
“We have started the new financial year with a clear plan to accelerate our operational strategy, and are making pleasing progress across a range of initiatives to re-focus our market portfolio, prioritise organic growth, drive our share in the US, and expand our margins. We are entirely focused on operational excellence and outstanding execution and, as a result, are confident that we are on a pathway to delivering future growth. We remain confident that our continued focused execution will drive organic growth into 2025 and beyond.”
