REG - Evoke PLC - Q3 2025 trading update

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RNS Number : 0094F  Evoke PLC  28 October 2025

 

28 October 2025

evoke Plc

("evoke" or "the Group")

 

Q3 2025 trading update

Continued execution against strategy; revenue growth of +5%; no change to FY25
Adjusted EBITDA expectations

evoke (LSE: EVOK), one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies
with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green,
today announces a trading update for the three months ended 30 September 2025
("Q3-25" or the "Period"). Further detail on the financial results by division
is included as an appendix to this announcement.

Financial highlights (unaudited)

·    Group: Revenue of £435m, 5% ahead of Q3 2024 (+4% in constant
currency(1) ("cc")), the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue
growth, supported by a return to growth in Retail resulting in all three
operating divisions growing during the quarter

·    Contribution growing faster than revenue in line with the Group's
focus on sustainable, profitable growth, and enhancing profitability through
better return on marketing

·    UK&I Online: 1% revenue growth, with growth in sports (+8%)
helped by weaker prior year win margins, offset by gaming (-2%), where 888
performance continues to be a drag on growth as we reduce marketing to target
higher marketing returns with strong double digit contribution growth across
both brands

·    International: 8% revenue growth (+6% cc), driven by strong
double-digit growth in core international markets of Italy, Denmark and
Romania, offset by a slowdown in Spain and a decline in non-core international
markets

·    Retail: Revenues +6% with growth in sports (+6%) helped by weaker
prior year win margins, and continued strong growth in gaming (+6%) following
the rollout of new gaming cabinets earlier this year

·    Balance sheet: Successful refinancing of the 2027 EUR fixed rate
notes with strong investor demand for the new 8.0% EUR fixed rate notes due
2031, extending maturities with no major maturity until 2028. Together with
changes to the hedging arrangements this will deliver c.£5m annualised cash
interest cost savings

Strategic highlights

·    Significant acceleration of growth in Denmark following the migration
to the in-house platform and subsequent product upgrades, with Q3 growth of
+19% cc with monthly revenue all-time highs

·    Continued market share gains in casino in Italy, driven by 888, with
a strong brand and continued focus on localised product features. Sports
product gaps on the Exalogic platform addressed for the start of the Serie A
season, with a recent return to pre-migration daily revenue levels on William
Hill

·    Completed the migration of 888 Romania onto the localised Winner.ro
platform, with a slowdown in 888 experienced during the migration, but
enhanced platform now unlocking significant product improvements and
localisation for 888 customers

·    Successful start to the football season for William Hill, with the
free to play game Final One Standing attracting over 300,000 entrants for the
first week, with strong conversion to cash activity and strong ongoing
engagement in subsequent weeks

·    New omni-channel Acca Boost product launched at the start of the
season delivering good growth in football accumulator business across online
and retail. Alongside improvements to Bet Builder these accumulator products
continue to be the fastest growing area, driving improved customer engagement
as well as higher structural win margins

·    New William Hill Vegas app launched at the end of the period with
significant user experience upgrades

Current trading and outlook

·    The Group continues to successfully execute against its strategy and
is actively managing the business to improve profitability, resulting in an
increasingly efficient operating model

·    The Group reiterates its FY25 guidance of achieving Adjusted EBITDA
Margin of at least 20%, which gives it confidence in delivering Adjusted
EBITDA ahead of current market expectations(2)

·    Looking forward the Group is reiterating its medium-term financial
targets of 5-9% annual revenue growth, approximately 100bps of Adjusted EBITDA
margin expansion per year, and leverage below 3.5x by the end of 2027

 

Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, commented:

"During Q3 we continued to execute against our strategy which is transforming
our long-term competitive capabilities and building a more efficient and
profitable business.

 

With Retail continuing the improving trend from Q2, all three divisions were
in growth during the quarter. Whilst our refined approach to UK Online
marketing to drive improved profitability slightly held back our top-line
performance, we are pleased to have recorded our fifth consecutive quarter of
profitable growth.

 

We have clear plans in place to support an improvement in revenue during Q4
through continued acceleration in product enhancements, including retail
sports and our recently launched new William Hill Vegas app. We are also
making ongoing improvements to our customer lifecycle management capabilities.
Alongside this, the improvements we have made to the operating model and
efficiencies in our cost base mean we remain confident of achieving our
implied Adjusted EBITDA guidance, which would outperform market expectations.

 

We continue to execute our turnaround with vigour and are making good progress
against our plans to position evoke for long-term success and significant
value creation."

 

Notes

(1) Growth on a constant currency basis is calculated by translating both
current and prior year performance at the 2025 exchange rates

(2) As at the date of this statement market consensus for FY25 Adjusted EBITDA
is £362m

 

Enquiries and further information:

 evoke Plc                                       +44(0) 800 029 3050
 Per Widerström, CEO

 Sean Wilkins, CFO

 Investor Relations                              ir@evokeplc.com (mailto:ir@evokeplc.com)

 James Finney, Director of IR

 Media                                           evoke@hudsonsandler.com (mailto:evoke@hudsonsandler.com)
 Hudson Sandler                                  +44(0) 207 796 4133

 Alex Brennan / Hattie Dreyfus / Andy Richards

 

About evoke Plc:

evoke plc (and together with its subsidiaries, "evoke" or the "Group") is one
of the world's leading betting and gaming companies. The Group owns and
operates internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888, and Mr
Green. Incorporated in Gibraltar, and headquartered and listed in London, the
Group operates from offices around the world.

The Group's vision is to make life more interesting and its mission is to
delight players with world-class betting and gaming experiences.

Find out more at: https://www.evokeplc.com (https://www.evokeplc.com)

 

Important Notices

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements, beliefs or
opinions, with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and
business of evoke. These statements, which contain the words "anticipate",
"believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "seek", "continue",
"aim", "target", "projected", "plan", "goal", "achieve", words of similar
meaning or other forward looking statements, reflect evoke's beliefs and
expectations and are based on numerous assumptions regarding evoke's present
and future business strategies and the environment evoke will operate in and
are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially. No representation is made that any of these statements or
forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of evoke to be materially different from
those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Many of these
risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond evoke's ability to
control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency
fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of
regulators and other factors such as evoke's ability to continue to obtain
financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and
regulatory framework in which evoke operates or in economic or technological
trends or conditions. Past performance of evoke cannot be relied on as a guide
to future performance. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on such forward-looking statements. The list above is not exhaustive
and there are other factors that may cause evoke's actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date and evoke, its
respective parent and subsidiary undertakings, the subsidiary undertakings of
such parent undertakings, and any of such person's respective directors,
officers, employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any
obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the forward-looking
statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under
applicable law. No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit
forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this announcement should be
interpreted to mean that the financial performance of evoke for the current or
future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical
published for evoke.

 

Appendix: Divisional Summary

 

Q3 2025

 

                                   UK&I Online                                       Retail                                            International                                        Group

   Unaudited                       Q3                 Q3                 %           Q3                 Q3                 %           Q3                  Q3                  %            Q3              Q3              %
   £m                              2025               2024               Change      2025               2024               Change      2025                2024                Change       2025            2024            Change

   Average monthly actives (000s)      1,027               1,135         -9%                                                                   594                 519         +15%              1,622           1,653      -2%

   Sportsbook stakes                   461.9               548.9         -16%             338.9              374.4         -9%              203.0               243.1          -17%           1,003.8         1,166.4       -14%
   Sportsbook net revenue margin   11.0%              8.6%               2.4ppt      19.8%              16.8%              2.9ppt      6.6%                7.5%                -0.9ppt      13.1%           11.0%           2.1ppt

   Betting revenue                        50.7               47.1        +8%                67.1               63.1        +6%                13.4                18.1         -26%              131.1           128.3      +2%
   Gaming revenue                      112.6               115.2         -2%                54.6               51.5        +6%             137.0                121.5          +13%             304.3            288.3      +6%
   Total revenue                       163.3              162.4          +1%              121.7              114.6         +6%              150.4               139.7          +8%               435.4           416.6      +5%

 

Year to Date ("YTD") 2025

 

                                   UK&I Online                                 Retail                                      International                                        Group

   Unaudited                       YTD             YTD             %           YTD             YTD             %           YTD                 YTD                 %            YTD             YTD             %
   £m                              2025            2024            Change      2025            2024            Change      2025                2024                Change       2025            2024            Change

   Average monthly actives (000s)       1,066           1,230      -13%                                                            633                 538         +18%              1,699           1,768      -4%

   Sportsbook stakes                 1,540.9        1,755.7        -12%         1,077.2         1,170.4        -8%              693.6               855.4          -19%          3,311.8         3,781.4        -12%
   Sportsbook net revenue margin   10.9%           10.0%           0.9ppt      19.3%           18.3%           1.1ppt      6.9%                7.0%                -0.1ppt      12.8%           11.9%           0.9ppt

   Betting revenue                      168.0           176.1      -5%              208.4           213.6      -2%                47.7                59.6         -20%             424.1            449.3      -6%
   Gaming revenue                       331.4           324.8      +2%              165.5           159.3      +4%              402.2               345.1          +17%              899.1           829.2      +8%
   Total revenue                        499.5           500.9      -0%              373.9           373.0      +0%              449.9               404.7          +11%          1,323.2         1,278.6        +3%

 

 

Note: Subtotals, totals, and percentage changes have been calculated based on
the underlying numbers. Any differences due to rounding.

 

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