Playtech plc (LON:PTEC) has provided an update on its full year performance for the period ended 31 December 2020.
Overview
Due to the hard work, resilience and commitment of its people, Playtech made significant strategic and operational progress in 2020 despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Company entered the US market, receiving a license and launching with bet365 and Entain in New Jersey, and, in December 2020, receiving regulatory approval to launch in Michigan. The Company also furthered its leadership in Latin America with strong growth at Caliente in Mexico, going live with Wplay in Colombia and signing new structured agreements in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. Snaitech continued to strengthen its market leading position in Italy with very strong online growth and gains in market share.
In 2020, Playtech also launched its new sustainable business strategy, Sustainable Success. The strategy will consolidate Playtech’s position as a global leader in safer products, data analytics and player engagement solutions. Playtech is supporting its licensees and partners to ensure that pre-COVID Safer Gambling commitments and industry codes of conduct to further safeguard consumers during the crisis are met and are effective.
This strategic and operational progress helped drive a solid financial performance for 2020 with Adjusted EBITDA expected to be at least €300 million. The standout performer in H1 was Finalto (formerly TradeTech), with Core B2B and Snaitech driving H2.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges and the macroeconomic outlook remains highly uncertain, Playtech remains well placed to make further strategic and operational progress in 2021.
Divisional review
In Core B2B, Playtech’s online Casino (including Live), Bingo and Poker businesses performed very well throughout 2020. Sports, which is heavily weighted towards retail, was impacted by retail closures and the lack of sporting events at various points during the year.
Snaitech had a resilient 2020 with a very strong performance in online, with retail impacted by lockdown measures and the cancellation of sporting events.
As mentioned at its interim results, Playtech’s business in Asia was impacted in 2020 by government restrictions in response to the pandemic as well as restrictions on payment processing. Playtech added a new distributor in 2020, alongside its existing distributor in Asia, to add more flexibility in the region going forward.
Playtech’s Financials division had a very strong 2020 driven by an exceptional performance in the first half of the year, followed by a challenging H2.
Asset review
Playtech has previously stated that it is a strategic focus of the Company to simplify its business and dispose of non-core assets. It is pleased to announce that it has now completed the sale of YoYo Games, part of the discontinued Casual and Social Gaming business, for a consideration of approximately USD 10 million. With the completion of the sale of YoYo Games, Playtech has now disposed of all its Casual and Social Gaming assets.
Playtech continues to be in discussions regarding the possible sale of its Financials division (Finalto).
Full year 2020 results date
Playtech will release its full year 2020 results on 11 March 2021. The results presentation will be available via audio webcast and conference call dial-in details will also be provided.
