REG - Intuitive Inv Group - Significant Hui10 operational progress and growth

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RNS Number : 0465X  Intuitive Investments Group plc  18 March 2026

18 March 2026

Intuitive Investments Group plc

("IIG" or the "Company")

Trading update

Significant Hui10 operational progress and growth

IIG is pleased to provide an update relating to its primary investment, Hui10
Inc. ("Hui10") as follows:

Highlights

 •    Strong growth in Chinese lottery transaction value through Lucky World
      terminals up to RMB 306 million in 2025 (2024: RMB 0.8 million) with terminal
      rollout in line with management's expectations, underpinning Hui10's strategic
      ambitions
 •    Landmark agreement with China Financial Certification Authority signals
      go-ahead towards Paperless Play Lottery pilot in 2026
 •    TEAM CHINA partnership delivers Hui10's Lucky World the rights to promote TEAM
      CHINA and its merchandise online and through its network of dedicated lottery
      shops
 •    £56 million of equity raises and commitments in 2025 finances the business
      for growth with no further funding requirements currently anticipated
 •    Strong outlook as Hui10 continues to expand its national infrastructure
      footprint and strengthen its strategic positioning with a near-term focus on
      the provincial deployment of the Paperless Play Lottery pilot, alongside its
      Lucky World expansion

 

Giles Willits, Chief Executive Officer of IIG, commented:

"Hui10 has delivered a step-change in operational progress over the past year,
with rapid expansion of its national infrastructure, strong growth across all
key metrics and the achievement of several critical strategic milestones. The
signing of the CFCA agreement and the successful completion of the recent
fundraise provide both technological and financial foundations with regulatory
compliance for the next phase of growth.

"As Hui10 moves through 2026, its focus is firmly on execution, progressing
the provincial deployment of the Paperless Play Lottery pilot, continuing the
rollout of the Lucky World and UGO networks, and converting this expanding
footprint into sustained transaction growth. Against a supportive national
policy backdrop and with momentum across the business, Hui10 is increasingly
well positioned to capitalise on the significant long-term opportunity
presented by the digital transformation of China's lottery sector."

Hui10's Strategy

Hui10 is a technology company deploying new proprietary digital interaction
platforms for China's national lottery retailers and players, aiming to
increase participation by enabling broader consumer access and new commercial
channels across China's lottery network. Hui10's systems incorporate
value-added services for lottery shopkeepers and players through its Lucky
World omnichannel retail platform which, in partnership with established
brands, delivers payments and settlement, loyalty, incentives and CRM tools.

Hui10 aims to increase participation in the Chinese lottery from the current
level of 10% to more than 30% (in line with global industry averages) bringing
more than 300 million users to the Hui10 platform with the potential to drive
lottery ticket sales to over RMB 900 billion (over £100 billion) in the long
term, alongside developing the 200,000 existing Sports lottery shop network
into Lucky World connected local community retail hubs. Hui10 has spent over a
decade developing its proprietary technology and building a framework of
landmark contracts with key State-Owned Entities and Government Bodies,
including China UnionPay, China Financial Certification Authority, China
Sports Lottery, TEAM CHINA, and commercial partners to establish the unique
position that unlocks this significant market opportunity.

2025 Performance Update

Over the last 12 months, Hui10 has made significant progress in the rollout of
its technology platform across China, delivering growth, in line with
management's expectations, across all its key performance metrics in the year
to 31 December 2025:

 As at 31 December                                    2025         2024
 Connected Lucky World Lottery Shops                  9,017        2,339
 UGO UnionPay POS Terminals                           700          323
 Total Registered Users                               925,302      249,521
 Twelve months to 31 December                         2025         2024
 Lottery Transaction Value through Lucky World (RMB)  305,926,210  787,825
 UGO Scratchcard Sales (RMB)                           9,918,894    5,519,700
 Lucky World Merchandise Revenue (RMB)                 840,976      226,909

 

Operational Highlights

2025 saw Hui10 deliver on a number of important milestones.

Secured business-critical strategic agreements

 •    Entered into a milestone agreement with the China Financial Certification
      Authority ("CFCA"), the national security certification agency under the
      leadership of the People's Bank of China and approved by the National
      Information Security Management Agency and the Ministry of Finance, which
      signals the go-ahead towards the deployment of Hui10's patented platform for
      the Paperless Play Lottery pilot;

 •    Signed a landmark deal with the General Administration of Sport of China
      commencing a partnership between Hui10 and TEAM CHINA. The partnership grants
      Hui10's Lucky World the rights to promote TEAM CHINA and its merchandise
      online and through its network of dedicated lottery shops, linked with Sports
      Lottery HongBao. Hui10 is also working to open and operate TEAM CHINA Sports
      Lottery+ Flagship Stores, across all 31 regions in China, with 5 stores
      already open, including stores in Beijing and Shanghai. Hui10's strategic
      partnership with TEAM CHINA provides strong alignment with national policy
      priorities and positions the business to benefit from the State Council's
      recently published directive targeting the growth of China's sports industry
      to an annual economic value of RMB 7 trillion (c.US$1 trillion).

 

Significant progress with expansion and growth

 •    Launched the first stage of UGO Lotto's national rollout in ride-hailing taxis
      in Shanxi, with 700 point-of-sale terminals operating in a combination of
      ride-hailing cars and other retail in November 2025, thus enabling digitally
      integrated Sports Lottery scratchcard sales in taxi and ride-hailing cars;

 •    Achieved its planned scaling milestones, entering four provinces across China,
      including Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, unlocking an estimated potential market
      of 175 million consumers. This expansion has grown Hui10's national footprint,
      validates the core platform, settlement and compliance infrastructure, and
      acts to support operational readiness for the expected forthcoming provincial
      Paperless Play Lottery pilot;

 •    Entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Yinsheng Payment (YSEPay),
      one of China's leading licensed third-party payment service providers,
      enabling real-time settlement across the Lucky World Lottery Payments Platform
      and thereby increasing Hui10's ability to scale;

 •    Signed significant commercial agreements for Hui10's Lucky World and Lottery
      HongBao platform. Agreements have been signed with Junhe Technology
      (俊和科技), a licensed distributor of CP Group (Charoen Pokphand Group),
      Diageo Shuijingfang, Sichuan Tuopai Shede Group Co., Ltd, Sinopec Easy Joy,
      China Poly Group and Urbrew.

 

Funding Update

 •    As announced on 15 December 2025, IIG entered into an investment agreement
      with Helikon Investments (the "Helikon Agreement") to provide up to £30
      million in equity funding to finance Hui10's Paperless Lottery Play roll-out,
      in three tranches subject to certain strategic milestones being achieved, with
      the first tranche of £5 million subsequently having been drawn down following
      the signing of the CFCA contract.

 •    A further £15 million of additional investment was raised, alongside
      Helikon's first tranche, on 13 January 2026, to support the growth of Hui10,
      taking the total raised/committed in the past 12 months to £56 million.

 •    Based on the funding raised to date and the remaining amounts committed under
      the Helikon Agreement, it is anticipated that there will be no further
      requirements for additional funding for Hui10 to achieve its strategic
      targets.

 

Outlook

 •    Hui10 continues to build on its substantial progress made during 2025, with
      strong momentum going into 2026. Lucky World's expansion continues, with
      January 2026 ending with 9,151 Connected Lucky World Lottery Shops and the
      Chinese Lottery payment transaction value through Lucky World continuing to
      increase to RMB 129,124,083 in the month of January 2026. In January 2026, the
      milestone of 1,000,000 registered users was reached with the total at month
      end hitting 1,011,987. January 2026 also saw UGO Lotto sales more than double
      compared to the previous year to RMB 853,674 and a further RMB 176,625 in
      Merchandise Sales.

 •    Hui10 continues to materially expand its national infrastructure footprint and
      strengthen its strategic positioning within China's lottery and sports
      ecosystem, with the Company's near-term focus on the provincial deployment of
      the Paperless Play Lottery pilot during the first half of 2026, subject to
      Ministry of Finance direction, as a precursor to a broader nationwide rollout.

 •    Hui10 anticipates connecting a further 6,000-8,000 Lucky World lottery shops
      during the second quarter of 2026, taking the total network to over 15,000
      shops, alongside an expansion of UGO UnionPay POS terminals to more than
      2,750. This continued expansion is expected to drive further growth in
      registered users, lottery transaction volumes and Lucky World merchandise
      revenues.

 •    Looking further ahead, by the end of 2026, Hui10 expects to have over 70,000
      Lucky World lottery shops and approximately 19,000 UGO UnionPay POS terminals
      in operation to support the successful deployment of the Paperless Play
      Lottery pilot and progression towards a national rollout. This scaling
      positions Hui10 to maximise the significant opportunity arising from the
      introduction of paperless lottery play, with the longer-term objective of
      operating across China's full network of approximately 200,000 lottery shops
      and over 3 million UGO UnionPay POS terminals.

 •    The transition to paperless lottery tickets is expected to support China's
      digitalisation and sustainability objectives. Hui10's paperless lottery
      infrastructure, developed in cooperation with CFCA and integrated with
      UnionPay's national payment network, enables future-proof electronic ticket
      issuance and settlement, thereby reducing paper consumption, transport and
      storage requirements, and supporting the broader policy direction of
      environmentally responsible, technology-enabled public service platforms.

 

IIG Strategic Review Update and Incentivisation Amendments in Hui10

 •    As previously announced, IIG is continuing to explore options to move from the
      Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange to an Official Listing on
      the Equity Shares (Commercial Companies) category of the Main Market. As part
      of this review and in order for IIG and its shareholders to receive the full
      benefit of an Official Listing on the Main Market, the Board has agreed that
      the Company needs to revisit certain existing Hui10 incentivisation
      arrangements prior to, or contemporaneously with, a potential move to an
      Official Listing on the Main Market (among other events). As the current terms
      of these incentivisation arrangements do not provide IIG with the ability to
      accelerate the schemes, and following a review of the existing incentivisation
      arrangements including negotiations with participants, the Board has approved
      and executed the following amendments to the existing incentivisation
      arrangements:

      •                                         As previously disclosed, the Hui10 share incentive growth scheme arrangements
                                                (the "MIP") allow participants up to, in aggregate, 15% of the increase in
                                                Shareholder Value created above a set hurdle. However, under the current terms
                                                neither Hui10 nor IIG are entitled to accelerate the Hui10 share growth
                                                incentive scheme until 2034. The terms of the scheme have therefore now been
                                                amended to introduce a Company call option right to trigger acceleration of
                                                the scheme.  Scheme participants have agreed to accept the amended terms of
                                                the MIP in consideration for an increased rate of participation in the growth
                                                of Shareholder Value from 15% to 25%, subject to maintaining the existing
                                                overall maximum share dilution for IIG shareholders at 15%, in aggregate.

      •                                         As previously disclosed, Hui10 also executed a warrant instrument which, if
                                                the associated vesting conditions are achieved, would result in the issue of
                                                in total 3,996,779 new IIG ordinary shares of £0.10 each ("Ordinary Shares")
                                                to the Chairman and certain connected parties. However, under the current
                                                terms, IIG is not entitled to accelerate the Hui10 warrant instrument if the
                                                holders of the warrants decline to exercise the warrants on the occurrence of
                                                certain corporate events.  The terms of the warrant have been amended to
                                                provide that the warrants shall lapse if the warrants are not exercised
                                                following the occurrence of certain corporate events, and a reduction in the
                                                warrant exercise subscription price from £1.8868 to £0.01 per Hui10 B Share
                                                of US$0.0001 each has been agreed with the warrant holder in consideration for
                                                such adjustments to the warrant holder rights.

 •    Related Party Transactions

      •                                         The Company is not required to comply with the provisions of Chapter 11 of the
                                                Listing Rules regarding related party transactions. The Company has, however,
                                                previously adopted a related party policy which applies to any transaction
                                                which it may enter into with any Director or any of their affiliates, which
                                                would constitute a "related party transaction" as defined in, and to which
                                                would apply, Chapter 11 of the Listing Rules. In accordance with its related
                                                party policy, the Company shall not enter into any such related party
                                                transaction without first obtaining the approval of a majority of the
                                                Directors who are independent of the relevant related party.

      •                                         Giles Willits, CEO of the Company, is a participant in the MIP and Sir Nigel
                                                Rudd, Chairman of the Company, and his affiliates, hold all of the warrants in
                                                Hui10. Accordingly, the amendments to the MIP and the warrants are deemed to
                                                constitute related party transactions pursuant to Listing Rule 11. The
                                                independent directors (being Malcolm Gillies, Richard Kilsby and Colin
                                                Willis), have unanimously agreed to the above mentioned Hui10 incentivisation
                                                amendments.

 

Enquiries:

 Intuitive Investments Group plc                 www.iigplc.com (http://www.iigplc.com/)

 Sir Nigel Rudd, Non-Executive Chairman          Via FTI Consulting

 Giles Willits, CEO

 Zeus                                            +44 (0)20 3829 5000

 James Hornigold / Dominic King

 FTI Consulting                                  +44 (0)20 3727 1000

 John Waples / Valerija Cymbal / Jemima Gurney   IIG@fticonsulting.com

 

About Intuitive Investments Group plc

IIG is a closed-end investment company focused on fast growing and high
potential investment opportunities. Following its move to the Specialist Fund
Segment of the London Stock Exchange, IIG made an investment in Hui10 in
October 2023 which now forms its main investment focus.

About Hui10

Hui10 is a technology company involved in the digital transformation of the
Chinese lottery. Its paperless lottery play platform unlocks the market
expansion of the Chinese lottery aiming to increase the number of people
playing the lottery from the current 10% participation level to target more
than 30%. Lucky World is Hui10's omnichannel commerce platform which provides
China's existing 200,000 lottery only shops access to a wider fastmoving
consumer goods product offering through its growing number of commercial
partnerships with leading Chinese suppliers.

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