Bookmaker 888 sees 2023 revenue decline towards upper end of range

By Prerna Bedi

(Reuters) -British bookmaker 888 Holdings said on Tuesday it expects its annual revenue decline to be at the top end of its forecast low-to-mid-single-digit range on a slow recovery in the Middle East, sending its shares down 4%.

The company posted a 7% drop in first-half revenue to 881.6 million pounds ($1.12 billion), missing a forecast from analysts at JPM of about 899 million pounds.

888, however, kept its profit outlook unchanged and said it would realise cost synergies from its 2022 acquisition of William Hill's non-U.S. assets a year earlier than planned.

"We now expect to realise the full 150 million pounds of synergies in 2024," Executive Chair Jonathan Mendelsohn said.

The company, which owns 888casino, 888poker, 888sport among other brands, said its UK revenue had been affected by efforts to improve player safety, while it had also seen a slower-than-expected recovery in its business in the Middle East.

The company had to suspend its VIP operations in the Middle East in January during an internal investigation into compliance with market regulations. It forecast a revenue hit of 25 million pounds to 30 million pounds from the suspension in April.

Shares were down 4% at 105.5 pence by 0735 GMT.

888 last month appointed a new CEO after shrugging off its second-largest shareholder FS Gaming's call to appoint its candidates to top roles that led the UK's Gambling Commission to launch a review of the betting firm's licences in the UK.

FS Gaming's push for former GVC, now known as Entain, executives to be appointed to 888's board, could have forced the firm out of its biggest market.

888 said it did not expect any operational impact from the ongoing licence review by the UK's gambling regulator.

"(We) will be pleased to see this particular cat returned to the bag from which it was so precipitously released," Peel Hunt analysts said on the license review and FS gaming.

888 posted an adjusted core profit of 155.6 million pounds, up 9% from year ago.

($1 = 0.7869 pounds)

($1 = 0.7879 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sharon Singleton)