Big betting brands could be put up for sale

[The Buzz]

According to an article in The Standard last week, Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, has initiated a comprehensive review of all its brands, potentially leading to the sale of some prominent betting names.

Entain reported a significant loss of £878 million, primarily attributed to one-time charges. The largest of these charges involved the settlement of a longstanding bribery case associated with a previously closed Turkish subsidiary and former executives no longer affiliated with the company. Despite this, underlying profits increased to £1 billion.

However, the implementation of new safer gambling regulations in the UK, enacted by Entain ahead of many competitors, constrained profit growth.

From the article:

Finance boss Rob Wood told the Standard that the firm sees an opportunity to pick up customers once smaller rivals are forced to implement the same reforms, though this was likely to mean higher marketing spend in the short-term. Elsewhere, reforms in Germany and the Netherlands also held profits back.

Those German and Dutch struggles sent Entain shares down, by 5.2% to 787.6p. They’re down 44% over the past year.

“2023 was a period of necessary, but ultimately positive, transition for Entain. We have significantly strengthened the quality of our revenue base, enhanced our Board, and delivered a resolution to a critical, historic, regulatory issue.”

Chair Barry Gibson said: “As our transformation continues the newly formed capital allocation committee has commenced a review of Entain's markets, brands and verticals. The objectives of the review are to help focus the organization, improve competitive positions and maximize shareholder value.”

Read more here: https://www.standard.co.uk/business/...-b1143745.html

[Sherlock]

It is a rotten company. They are plague.

Without doubt they steal. They fcked up the affiliate business.
I have zero evidence for it, but I have a feeling that they steal solely for management and not for shareholders.

All their brands (with Bwin exception where they did their first Chelmno experiment) were ok affiliate-wise. Then they destroy their reputation and want to sell an empty shell. Rinse and repeat. Just amazing.

[tufty]

It was that ugly, crooked fecker Kenny Alexander who was at the helm when Entain ran into legal problems with the 'bribery' issue. It was also him who is mainly responsible for the wholesale theft from affiliates. He soon did an exit with suitcases full of cash, by arrangement, so that Entain (then GVC Holdings) could blame a previous board for their illegal dealings and carry on largely unscathed. I do not know how companies like this get away with pure theft and being caught acting illegally. For everyone else it would be very long jail time. Entain are still crooks now, just blaming anything that comes to light on 'previous' feckers like piece of sh1te Kenny Alexander.