Unibet EBITDA falls in Q1

ator Unibet has reported a 32% year-on-year decrease in EBITDA to £14.4m for the first quarter of 2015, down from £21.3m.

Unibet’s Q1 figures have been put down to the translation effect of movements in currency exchange rates.

Profit before tax totalled £11.3m, falling 32% from £16.5m, while profit after tax was £10m, dropping 35% from £15.3m.

Gross winnings revenue fell 1% to £76.1m from £76.5m, and Unibet’s gross winnings revenue on a rolling 12-month basis stands at £311.6m.

Earnings per share were £0.351 in comparison with £0.544.

Unibet’s number of active customers at the end of the quarter was 612,269, increasing 10% from 552,338.

Henrik Tjarnstrom, Unibet CEO, said in a press release: “As we know, it takes some time for increased customer activity to flow through into gross winnings revenue, so the higher marketing investment and lower margins in the quarter had a short-term impact on the reported result.

“Unibet’s organic growth continued to develop strongly in the first quarter, with an increase of gross winnings revenue in constant currency of more than 15%, against strong comparatives. This is again significantly higher growth than the overall market and indicates that we are continuing to take market shares across the board.”