JPJ Group banks on Vera&John to drive 2018 growth

JPJ Group expects to post growth in revenue and profit for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018, despite contending with a challenging regulatory backdrop in the UK over the past year.

The parent company of Jackpotjoy and Vera&John has said in a trading update that both full-year revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) should be at the upper end of market expectations.

JPJ cited strong organic growth at Vera&John across a number of international markets a key driver of growth for the year, helping offset the struggles of its Jackpotjoy division.

The operator noted that the Jackpotjoy segment was impacted by enhanced responsible gambling measures in the UK in 2018, and expects this to be reflected in its full-year figures.

Neil Goulden, executive chairman at JPJ, said: “We are pleased with the performance of the group during 2018, as we continue to take advantage of the growth opportunities present in international markets, notwithstanding what has been a challenging regulatory backdrop in the UK.

“We enter 2019 in a strong position to deliver further growth and to create value for shareholders.”

The growth of Vera&John and Jackpotjoy's struggles would mirror JPJ’s third quarter results, which saw revenue climb 8% year-on-year to £77.8m (€87.1m/$99.8m). This growth was driven by the strong performance of Vera&John, which reported a 41% increase in revenue to £52.7m, while Jakckpotjoy saw its contribution fall 3% to £52.1m.

In addition to Jackpotjoy and Vera&John, JPJ operates the InterCasino, StarSpins and Botemania brands. Last month, JPJ secured a licence to launch both the Vera&John and InterCasino brands in Sweden’s newly regulated iGaming market.

Image: Max Pixel