Lottery specialist Zeal Group has announced strong results for the first nine months of 2018, thanks to higher average jackpots in core products and an improvement in instant win games and US lotteries.
Year-to-date billings grew by five per cent to €212.4m (2017: €201.7m) and in the third quarter, by eight per cent versus the third quarter 2017.
Increased billings, fewer exceptional prize payouts and a focus on higher margin products during the third quarter contributed to a 17 per cent improvement in total operating performance to €114.1m (up from 2017’s €97.6m).
Flat costs for the period led to earnings before interest and taxes for the nine-month period rising to €29.1m (€12.5m), with the third-quarter €12.7m EBIT outperforming expectations.
On a normalised basis – highlighting the group’s underlying performance – revenues were up eight per cent and EBIT up 26 per cent, year on year, while Zeal delivered a record number of new registered customers for the group and its partners at a lower cost per acquisition.
Jonas Mattsson, CFO at Zeal Group, said: “Zeal has delivered a strong set of results for the first nine months of this year. Our record number of new customers, the favourable jackpot environment and continued growth in traditionally non-core products have all combined to deliver promising topline growth, a good underlying performance, and very strong EBIT.
“These results reflect the continued high demand for our products and set us up well for the final quarter of the year.”
