Last month, Codere’s management said that Spain would remain an extremely important market for the operator despite a series of new advertising restrictions set to come into effect.
A complete lack of revenue from Argentina – its largest source of revenue in 2019 and in the first half of 2020 – and Panama meant Codere made only €20.9m from Latin America, down 89.5%.
The lack of activity in these markets meant Uruguay became Codere’s largest non-European source of revenue at €12.1m, even though this figure was still down 33.5% year-on-year. A further €8.4m came from Mexico, down 88.9%, while €300,000 came from Colombia, down 94.0%.
The operator said that while closures affected all of its markets, numbers have been strong since it was permitted to reopen its venues.
“Performance upon reopening across all markets has been strong, achieving 70-90% of the 2019 revenue levels within 6-8 weeks upon reopening. The operations in Uruguay, Italy and Spain produced already positive operational cash flows in the third quarter while Mexico, Colombia and Panama are expected to do so between October and November,” the company said.
Online was the only sector where Codere’s revenue grew year-on-year, as the operator brought in €18.7m, up 19.7%. Codere’s operating expenses, meanwhile, fell 47.5% to €138.4m.
After tax benefits, Codere lost €62.1m, more than double its prior year loss.
“In recent weeks, our business in Europe has been affected by temporary restrictions as a result of the second wave of the pandemic, affecting our recovery trend. Still, the company continues to be confident that, after the restructuring has been completed, it has the resources and the appropriate capital structure to serve its short term obligations until the full normalization of the business,” Codere detailed.
Last month, Codere became took a major step towards securing an online gambling licence in the Argentinian capital city of Buenos Aires. Its initial proposal to launch online gambling in the city was the first to be approved by lottery operator and de-facto regulator the Lotería de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (LOTBA), meaning it may now execute the strategy set out in the proposal.
Source: GMB / iGB
