JUE 28 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 22:40hs.
Group CEO Christos K. Dimitriadis

“Intralot is continuously being prepared for the future and the new worldwide realities”

Intralot has published its financial results for the six-months ended June 30, reporting a 55.5% year-on-year decline in revenue for the first half of 2020, with US growth as one of only few highlights for the firm during a difficult period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have revisited our strategy, accelerated its execution, reorganized the Group, and gave priority to our customers and to our people,” said Group CEO Christos K. Dimitriadis.

Greek gaming operator Intralot saw its first half revenue come in at €168.2m in 1H20 with EBITDA of €26.7m. Interestingly, North America operations, under Intralot Inc., achieved significant year-on-year growth, with revenue up 15.2% and EBITDA up 35.8 per cent.

During the six-month period ended June 30, Intralot systems handled €9.8bn of worldwide wagers, posting a 1.7% year-on-year increase. East Europe’s wagers increased by 61.6% (reflecting the new Sports Betting era dynamics in Turkey since September 2019), North America’s by 18.9%, in part offset by Africa’s decreased wagers with Morocco down 47%, South America down by 46.9%, West Europe was down 28.9%, and Asia was down by 0.4%, all mainly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lottery Games was the largest contributor to Intralot’s top line, comprising 65.3% of revenue, followed by Technology Contracts, contributing 14.3% to group turnover. Sports Betting accounted for 11.5%t and VLTs represented 8.3% of Group turnover, while Racing constituted the 0.6% of total revenue during the first six months of the year.

Group CEO Christos K. Dimitriadis said: “During the first half of 2020 we have navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the effect of discontinued operations in Bulgaria and Turkey. We have revisited our strategy, accelerated its execution, reorganized the Group, gave priority to our customers and to our people, addressed our financials with prudency, diversified our portfolio even further, ensured continuity in service provision and identified ways to unlock the hidden potential of our digital technology.”

“As a result, we have achieved significant growth in our US operation, substantial reduction of the Group’s OPEX and CAPEX and maintenance of strong liquidity levels. Most importantly we are continuously being prepared for the future and the new realities that are being established worldwide,” Dimitriadis added.

By evaluating the latest available data and known lockdown conditions per jurisdiction and the moderate restart of sporting events, the company’s best estimate for COVID-19 impact for 2020 remains in the vicinity of €25m at Group’s EBITDA level.

In its report, the company explained: “Estimates, in terms of impact, rest in the fact that restrictions in various markets have been lifted earlier than initially expected and the top line impact in many cases is lower than previously forecasted. For example, in the US, monthly data show a high degree of resilience of our operations, and in Malta the lockdown was lifted on early May, earlier than anticipated. In Morocco, despite an earlier than anticipated lockdown lift, it has been followed by turbulence, i.e. local lockdowns that have affected the local economies and our operations. In Australia, however, impact assumptions are confirmed until now as well as for other jurisdictions, especially those in the South America region. We are monitoring and assessing the situation focusing, besides restrictions lift, on activity pickup curves.”

Source: GMB