By Kyle Morris
Flutter Entertainment PLC said Wednesday that it is upgrading its 2022 guidance for U.S. revenue after strong growth there, and that group revenue for the third quarter rose 22%.
The Dublin-based gambling group said quarterly group revenue came to 1.89 billion pounds ($2.18 billion), compared with GBP1.44 billion a year earlier, after U.S. growth of 82% and the Sisal acquisition. Sports revenue rose 17% to GBP1.14 billion, while gambling revenue increased 30% to GBP748 million.
Average monthly players rose 23% to 9.6 million from 7.8 million a year prior.
The company’s U.S. division is now its largest and generated $700 million in revenue during the quarter, it said. For the U.K. and Ireland, revenue was 3% higher, though retail revenue was 3% lower with reduced footfall due to the hot summer weather, the company said.
U.S. revenue guidance was upgraded to $2.95 billion-$3.2 billion, from $2.85 billion-$3.1 billion, while the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization loss was still expected to be in line with previous guidance of $300 million-$360 million.
For the group excluding the U.S., adjusted Ebitda for 2022 is expected to remain within the previously-guided range, the company said.
Guidance reflects current consumer trends, with no discernible sign of slowdown in the year to date, it said.
“Flutter delivered a strong 3Q performance with pro forma growth of 11% in both revenue and average monthly players. Our U.S. division is now our largest and generated $700 million in revenue, up 82%. Good growth in our ‘consolidate and invest’ international markets and the acquisition of Sisal in August helped drive ex-U.S. revenues,” Chief Executive Peter Jackson said.
Mr. Jackson said the company was delighted with the outcome of the arbitration process with Fox Corp. regarding the price of its option to acquire 18.6% of FanDuel, with FanDuel valued at $20 billion. It provides important clarity on the significant cost required to buy into the U.S. gambling business, he said.
Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
Write to Kyle Morris at kyle.morris@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 09, 2022 03:16 ET (08:16 GMT)
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