Fortuna claims ongoing growth in Q1 as gross win rises

Per Widerstrom, chief executive of Fortuna Entertainment, said the firm was able to deliver “strong growth” during the opening quarter of the year, after reporting increases in gross win and the amount staked by customers.

Gross win in the three-month period amounted to €38.1 million (€36.3 million), up 7.6% on the amount collected during the corresponding quarter last year.

Fortuna noted that gross win from sports betting activities was up 7.8% year-on-year to €35.9 million, with online betting responsible for €23.8 million of this figure, up 19.7% on the previous year.

Amounts staked by customers also increased by 26.3% year-on-year to €251.7 million, with Fortuna citing double-digital growth within its online betting arm as the main reason behind this growth.

“In the first quarter of 2016, the company continued to deliver strong growth in amounts staked and we accepted total bets in the amount of €251.7 million, which is 26.3% more than last year,” Widerstrom said.

“The amounts staked grew by double digits in all our key markets, primarily driven by online betting growth and, in particular, mobile sports betting while retail grew low single digit.”

However, Fortuna did suffer a drop in earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA), which fell 37.1% to €4.6 million.

Speaking about this particular result, Widerstrom said: “Our operating profitability measured by EBITDA was impacted by the increase in the betting tax rate in the Czech Republic, unfavourable margin development especially in February and by planned increase of operating costs to support future growth opportunities of the company.”

Related article: Fortuna claims ‘strong profitable growth’ in 2015