Playtech made substantial strides in 2023, with both income and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rising from the previous year. Chief Executive Officer Mor Weizer commended the company’s “strategic and operational” improvements.
Playtech attained a net profit of €105.1 million in the 2023 fiscal year, underscoring notable strategic progress driven by expansion in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) segments.
Playtech’s ongoing operating revenue climbed by 6.6% to €1.71 billion (£1.46 billion/$1.85 billion).
Reflecting on the past year, Weizer emphasized the company’s expansion in the United States. He highlighted key achievements from 2023, including the establishment of a third live casino facility in Pennsylvania, increasing the number of licenses to 11, with additional applications in progress.
Furthermore, B2C revenue exceeded €1 billion for the first time. Weizer focused on Snaitech, noting that the brand maintains a competitive edge despite lower online market penetration.
Weizer stated, “Underlying this performance are our skilled employees worldwide. Despite significant disruptions from geopolitical conflicts this year, they continue to serve our customers, and we are deeply appreciative of their efforts.”
Caliplay Legal Challenges
However, amidst the revenue growth, legal proceedings with Mexico-facing Caliplay persist.
This disagreement has been ongoing for some time, with a significant development in October 2023 when Caliplay initiated legal action to terminate their partnership with Playtech.
Caliplay is a collaborative venture between Playtech and Caliente, a Mexican operator. However, Caliplay is now seeking to dissolve their formal relationship with Playtech. They have made this public because they claim it is hindering the smooth operation of their regulated business in Mexico.
Playtech responded to the dissolution request in November, declaring they would take steps to settle the dispute. They also asserted that Caliplay’s actions in the Mexican court were in violation of the contractual agreements outlined in the strategic agreement established in 2014.
Now, Playtech has filed additional claims against Caliplay, involving outstanding payments. The dispute includes arguments concerning the fees Caliplay should be paying, primarily B2B licensing fees and supplementary B2B service fees.
Playtech claims that Caliplay has not paid the B2B licensing fees due since August 2023, and the additional B2B service fees due since July 2023. However, they acknowledge that the unpaid amount constitutes €86.5 million of their annual income and state they are likely to recover the full amount.
Playtech has outlined their stance, stating they hold €730.2 million worth of M&A warrants (derivative financial assets). This represents 22% of Playtech’s total assets. However, this is contingent on the court’s ruling, which could potentially invalidate Playtech’s M&A warrants.
The entity maintains that the choice is obsolete and first brought up its obsolescence in its six-month interim report for the period concluding June 30, 2022, published on September 22, 2022. The entity’s position remained unchanged as of December 31, 2022, and into 2023.
Despite the ongoing matter, Playtech still asserted that it values Caliplay as a customer. The matter is scheduled to go to court in October.
“Caliplay remains a very significant customer,” Playtech stated. “The firm is dedicated to continuing an open discussion with Caliplay to talk about future directions.”
B2B income expanded to €684.1 million in 2023
Coincidentally, Caliplay’s strong performance surfaced several times as Playtech examined its 2023 outcomes.
Beginning with B2B, encompassing the Caliplay partnership, income in this area increased by 8.2% to €684.1 million. Playtech indicated that the Americas was the primary driver of growth, with income rising by 46.4%.
In Latin America, Playtech stated that Caliplay remains a key driver in Mexico. However, it also lauded the success of Wplay in Colombia and the early performance of Galerabet in Brazil.
Playtech also mentioned “substantial” growth opportunities in the U.S., with multiple operators launching in multiple states. In Northern Canada, Playtech highlighted the “exceptional” start to its broadened relationship with NorthStar in Canada.
B2C income reaches a record high
As for B2C, income reached a record €1.04 billion, up 5.5% year-over-year.
Playtech emphasized Snaitech, their Italian-facing brand, as a key factor in their growth, with income from this operation rising by 5.2% to €94.7 billion. The organization attributed this to expansion in both physical and digital operations, adding that the Snai brand remains a market leader in terms of market share.
The company also discussed strategic acquisitions to expand Snaitech, particularly searching for complementary businesses in Italy. Additionally, Playtech stated that online franchise fees are anticipated to increase substantially, which is not cost-effective for many smaller operators. This, they added, will create more opportunities for takeovers.
In other areas, Playtech mentioned the HappyBet brand, which continued to experience losses in 2023. However, a portion of these losses were linked to past legal settlement costs, and losses are projected to decline in 2024.
Also included in this section was the growth of Sun Bingo and other B2C businesses. Playtech attributed this to more effective marketing spending and increased player retention due to improved user experience.
Revenue growth led to an increase in net profit to €105.1 million.
On the cost side, Playtech saw higher overall expenses. The group’s main expense was distribution costs, which amounted to €1.15 billion before depreciation and amortization, an increase of 6.5%.
Other notable costs included administrative expenses, which remained at €146.7 million before depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization increased by 14.3% year-on-year to €1.944 billion.
Playtech also noted that 89…
Playtech declared a total write-off of €8 million, impacting both tangible and intangible assets. This comprised €7.8 million for Eyecon, €9.6 million for Quickspin, and a substantial €72.2 million for sports B2B.
The devaluation of Eyecon was mainly due to heightened rivalry in the UK online marketplace, leading to subpar performance and a decrease in value from €17.5 million to €9.7 million.
Quickspin’s write-off was attributed to its transitional phase, resulting in lower earnings. However, following internal reorganization, Quickspin has been incorporated into the “ive” business unit and shows signs of improvement.
The sports B2B impairment was caused by the loss of two significant retail contracts during the year, reducing its value from €236.2 million to €164 million.
Despite increased expenses, revenue growth resulted in a 146.7% increase in pre-tax earnings, reaching €235.8 million. After paying €130.7 million in income tax, net earnings reached €105.1 million, a 158.9% increase.
Playtech also considered the effect of discontinued operations in 2022 on its profit, which generated an additional €47 million. However, even taking this into account, net profit still grew by 20.0%.
Moreover, adjusted EBITDA for 2023 increased by 7.1% to €423.3 million.
Looking ahead to 2024, Playtech stated that its existing businesses are performing “strongly.” The company noted robust potential growth trends in both B2B, including regulated markets in the Americas, and B2C markets.
As a result, Playtech has established its business-to-business adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization goal between €200 million and €250 million for the medium term, while the business-to-consumer objective is set between €300 million and €350 million.
“Generally, we maintain confidence in our capacity to carry out our plan and continue to generate value for investors,” stated Weizer.
What do market experts believe?
Neil Shah, director of research at Edison Group, examined these outcomes and provided unbiased perspectives on the data.
Shah concurred that the outcomes demonstrate substantial progress in strategy and operations. However, he also indicated that difficulties persist, particularly with the ongoing dispute with Caliplay.
“Considering the group’s acknowledgment of €86.5 million in outstanding income in 2023, all attention will be on Playtech in October when the case goes to court, which could lead to substantial revenue losses if Caliplay fails to fulfill its payment commitments,” Shah stated.
“Nonetheless, Playtech still possesses a solid financial position with a leverage ratio of 0.7x, due to its successful operations and strategic collaborations in the United States. In terms of the industry, the company has experienced strong growth, particularly in the Americas, with revenue increasing by 46%, and business-to-consumer performance remaining solid, expanding by 5%, driven by brands such as Snaitech.”
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