Discussing Kindred’s latest trading reports, group CEO Henrik Tjärnström highlighted growth in the French market, as well as the success of the UEFA 2020 European Championship, as key revenue drivers.
Publishing its results last month, the Nasdaq Stockholm-listed gambling group reported profits of £160 million – up 575% on 2020’s corresponding H1 results of £27.8 million – generated from group revenues of £716 million, a 48% increase on H1 2020 results of £485 million.
When asked which national jurisdictions had stood out in the first half of the year for Kindred, Tjärnström highlighted the French sector as experiencing a substantial improvement, having suffered last year more than most from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If any market, it’s probably France this quarter,” he explained. “Last year, France was heavily impacted – the most heavily impacted – market, as the regulation didn’t permit for any sort of alternative sports and there is no casino in the regulation as well.
“Activity levels there dropped and turnover and revenues as well, and France now, this quarter, with the European Championships and the French team was looking very strong and they got eliminated on the 28th of June from the tournament – France grew 65% year on year as a market and that is clearly phenomenal.”
Furthermore, the CEO detailed how the Euro 2020 tournament provided a significant boost to revenues in general, not just in France.
“It was as expected one of our largest events ever,” he detailed. “We had expected slightly more but it’s always difficult to predict exactly how the tournament will end up. I think the busy sports schedule for the last year had an impact on that as well.
“That said though, it was one of our largest events and we replaced seven out of our 14 all-time highs in the sportsbook event schedule, so it was a big event and it was a big success.
“We generated almost £330 million in revenues throughout the tournament – so a very strong, good margin, good activity and everything and, of course, as I say it’s a fundamental part of that £1.9 million all-time high.”
Source – Kindred Group YouTube Channel
