GVC hails bwin.party acquisition as finances rise in 2016

GVC Holdings has cited its acquisition of bwin.party last February as one of the main reasons behind a year-on-year increase in key finances in 2016.

Pro forma net gaming revenue amounted to €894.6 million ($963.7 million), a rise of 9% on the €822.2 million posted in the previous year.

Clean earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 26% year-on-year to €205.7 million, on a pro forma basis.

GVC also noted that pro forma sports wagers increased 4% from €4.39 billion in 2015 to €4.55 billion in the past year, with an improved sports margin of 8.5%.

The pro forma results show a combined group as if GVC acquired bwin.party on January 1.

Actual net gaming revenue stood at €843.4 million, while actual clean EBITDA came in at €193.5 million and actual sports wagers at €4.33 billion.

Kenneth Alexander, chief executive of GVC, said: “The acquisition of bwin.party in February 2016 was our most ambitious transaction to date and through the hard work of our people we have once again demonstrated our ability to create significant shareholder value through selected acquisitions.

“Our strategy of pursuing international diversification and scale through leveraging our proprietary technology, is more appropriate today than at any time in our history.

“The organic growth opportunity is equally exciting and we are confident of delivering further growth in 2017.”

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