Welcome to the Betsson's Q1 2020 conference. For the first part of the conference, all participants are on listen-only mode, and afterwards, there'll be a question- and- answer session. Today, I am pleased to present President and CEO, Pontus Lindwall, and CFO, Martin Öhman. Speakers, please begin.
Hi, this is Pontus Lindwall, CEO of Betsson. Welcome to the presentation of the first quarter. With me in this room, I have Martin Öhman, but also Anna-Lena and Johan from Betsson. Apart from us, it's quite empty due to the current situation. For today's presentation, we have an outline. We're going to go through some highlights for the quarter, and then I will hand over to Martin for financial overview, and a trading update will be done. I will talk a bit about product and technology update, and regulation and sustainability. Finally, there will be a short summary, and after that, we go to questions. The highlights for the quarter. It's a strong quarter in all different areas, and we're really happy about the current trading for the company for the full first quarter and into the second quarter as well.
Our sustainable growth strategy really delivers. We have a revenue of SEK 1.4 billion, which is up 7% year-on-year. We have a strong EBIT of SEK 261 million and an EBIT margin of 18.4%. This is especially encouraging to operate at a high EBIT margin during this challenging situation where we don't really know what the future will look like, at least not in the short to midterm. Sportsbook revenue growth was up 29%, which is an all-time high revenue for the Sportsbook. It's quite a long-going trend now that the Sportsbook is performing really well. We have also launched a new mobile casino product called Jalla Casino, which is a casino that "jallar." We have also done the acquisition of GiG's business-to-consumer vertical.
We did it in the middle of the first quarter, and we have finalized it here in April. In the first quarter, we also had a really nice milestone for the company, where we did our first external Sportsbook business- to- business contract for the Sportsbook, which will be operated on an external platform. This is something that we have worked for quite some time, and of course, now we have postponed the launch of that Sportsbook, but the development is going according to plan, and we really look forward to be able to launch that when times allow it. We have also performed a share buyback program of SEK 60 million to improve our capital structure, which we did by the end of March. By doing that, we reduced the number of shares. We're happy about that one.
On the active customer side, it's quite flat compared to last quarter and similar to the same quarter last year. On deposits, it's an all-time high, which you can see on the orange-colored right-hand bar set. That's really encouraging because that shows that there's an underlying strong performance in the gaming solutions that we operate. As we all know, we have this tragic situation with the new coronavirus and the COVID-19, and I want to give you a brief update about what we have done in relation to that. First of all, we want to manage the health and safety for our own employees, but also for the whole society. For that reason, we have all people at Betsson more or less working from home since mid-March.
We manage really well to operate via remote working, and the whole business is performing just as good as always, even though everybody works from home. I really have to send my appreciation to our employees for the kind of spirit that they show in this situation. We deliver product and services to the same high quality and class as we have done prior to the crisis. We see a small increase in the casino activity, which partly mitigates the impact on the Sportsbook revenues, which, of course, has gone down a bit because there is not much sports to bet at. It's important for everyone to understand that it's not that all sports have disappeared. We still have esports, we have ping pong, and several other sports around the globe.
We keep the Sportsbook operating with all the staff, and the Sportsbook still delivers some numbers to us, so it's not closed down by any means. For the company itself, we are in a strong and sustainable financial position. We have low gearing. We have high margins, as I mentioned earlier, high EBIT margin. This enable us to keep on handling market fluctuations and still work with all the initiatives that we have started, including exploring possible growth opportunities, both by investing in new markets, new products, and potentially M&A. By this, I want to say that Betsson is not sitting down and waiting for this to disappear. We work with everything as normal and push forward as we always do. Okay. Now I hand over to Martin for comments on the financial overview and the trading update.
Thank you, Pontus. Looking back at Q4 in 2019, we expected to see a recovery which did not fully materialize, although we saw high customer activity. The first quarter in 2020 started off very well, and we now see the effect from high customer activity, noted in the fourth quarter, turning into revenue. The high customer activity continued up until mid-March when the COVID-19 hit us, and we saw the effect from canceled sports events to a certain extent, impacting the Sportsbook revenue. Despite the cancellation of sporting events in the end of March, we still saw all-time high revenue from the Sportsbook in this quarter, and the casino continued the good trend we saw from Q4 2019. In Q2 2019, we saw, for the first time, revenue decrease year-over-year, which continued in Q3.
In Q4 2019, this trend changed. In Q1 we once again see growth year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter as well. Revenue for the first quarter was SEK 1,418 million, which is an increase by 7% compared to the same period last year. The increase in revenue comes from Sportsbook, which shows all-time-high revenue for the first quarter. Compared to Q4 2019, we see an uplift in revenue of SEK 128 million, which correspond to an increase of 10%. Mobile revenue share as part of total revenue increased from 68% in the first quarter 2019 to 70% in 2020. Looking at revenue by region, we see an increase from the CEECA region and rest of the world, and a decline from the Nordic region. The Nordic region represents some 34% of total revenue.
In the first quarter, we saw continued weak revenue trend in the Nordic region compared to the same period last year, which mainly relates to the decreased casino revenue. Sportsbook revenue in the Nordic has slightly increased in Q1 2020 compared to the same period last year. However, looking quarter-over-quarter, we see an increase in revenue from the Nordics starting in the third quarter 2019 and continues in Q1 2020. The launch of Jalla Casino in the end of March puts a new casino product on the Swedish market. The Jalla Casino is a Pay N Play casino, which is well-received by customer. The revenue impact in Q1 is not material, but we see high customer activity directly after the launch, and we hope that to continue going forward. Western Europe constitutes some 29% of group's total revenue.
Most of the revenue from Western Europe comes from casino which also explains most of the decline in revenue compared to the same period last year. The Netherlands remains a tough market since we are no longer allowed to actively target new customers through marketing. Focus is on CRM, but the pattern with lower customer intake and the natural churn continues. Other markets within Western Europe perform well and almost make up for the decrease in revenue we see from the Netherlands. Central and Eastern Europe and the rest of the world. The revenue from that region amounts to some 30% of the group's total revenue, and we see a positive growth in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. This comes from double-digit growth in both Sportsbook and casino. We'll continue with the CEECA region and the rest of the world.
We also see growth in the rest of the world, a lot thanks to the strong Sportsbook offering developed by Betsson. In the fourth quarter, Betsson has increased the share of revenue coming from regulated markets by 20% compared to the same period last year. The revenue from regulated markets now constitutes 36% of the group's total revenue. Betsson's current casino offer includes 2,700 casino games, of which 2,000 are available on the mobile devices. After seeing a decline in casino revenue in the first two quarters in 2019, the trend shifted in Q3 2019. In Q1 2020, we see casino revenue growth for the third consecutive quarter. Casino revenue amounted to SEK 1,040 million in the first quarter, which is in line with the same period last year.
We see increase in casino revenue in all markets, but the Nordics and the Netherlands, which still struggle due to regulatory challenges. Mobile casino revenue share as part of total casino revenue increased from 66% in Q1 2019 to 67% in 2020. The gross turnover in Sportsbook was more than SEK 6.8 billion, which is an increase by 8% compared to the first quarter last year. When comparing to the same period last year, one should keep in mind the cancellation of sports events due to COVID-19 and the impact from less betting events from beginning of March and onwards. Sportsbook revenue in the first quarter amounted to SEK 385 million, which is all-time high, as Pontus earlier mentioned, and an increase of 29% compared to the same quarter last year and some 23% compared to Q4 2019.
The increase is explained by high customer activity in the beginning of the quarter, but also explained by high sport margin, 8.5%, compared to the eight-quarter rolling average margin of 7.3%. In the first quarter, we saw growth in Sportsbook revenue from the CEECA region and the rest of the world. Western Europe is flat, and Sportsbook revenue from the Nordics decline. Although the majority of the leagues have been paused and the majority of the sport events were canceled from beginning of March and onwards, we still managed to offer a large variety of betting events. In the first quarter, Betsson Group offered some 50,000 live betting events, which is well in line with previous quarters, showing the flexibility that our in-house Sportsbook offers and the ability to swift adjust to changes in the market.
Mobile sports revenue accounted for 81% compared to 80% of total Sportsbook revenue last year. Total Sportsbook revenue represented 27% of the group's total revenue, and casino revenue sums up to 72% of total revenue. Cost of services provided has increased in the first quarter by SEK 42 million as a function of increased revenues. As a direct effect of increased revenue from regulated market, betting duties also increases. Gross profit amounted to SEK 944 million compared to SEK 899 million same quarter last year, corresponding to a gross margin of 67%. Marketing spend is more or less on the same level as last year, and we are continuously trying to be more efficient and to get more output from each krona spent. We constantly evaluate, monitor, and reallocate funds to the areas where we think we can get the best return on market investment.
Due to the COVID-19, we have shifted spending from sports towards more casino marketing. Betsson have managed costs very tight in the past quarters, and we continue that focus. Personnel cost and other operating costs slightly increased in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. This is part of the growth plan where Betsson has invested and will continue to invest in developing its technology, broadening the product offering, and improve the user experience. Cost is also, to some extent, impacted by acquisition-related cost and the cost to further developing the Betsson's geographical spread. EBIT amounts to SEK 261 million, and EBIT margin is 18.4%. Betsson EBIT and EBIT margin stand strong in comparison to many of our peers and conveys Betsson's ability to deliver profitability also during challenging times.
Betsson has a high cash conversion ratio and show operating cash flow of SEK 322 million in the first quarter. The operating cash flow is driven by strong operating income. Comparing to the same period last year, the operating income is on the same level, but Q1 last year were negatively impacted by working capital. The opposite goes for this year. The majority of Betsson's cash flow from investing activities relates to investment in our proprietary technology, where the B2B set up for Sportsbook and the continuing product development of the platform to increase customer experience constitute the bulk of the initiatives. Cash flow from financing activities comprise use of proceed related to our RCF of SEK 74 million and a buyback of shares amounting to SEK 60 million. The share buyback was made to improve capital structure by reducing number of outstanding shares.
Betsson has low leverage and as end of March, a net debt position of SEK 26 million, implying a net debt EBITDA ratio of 0x and equity ratio of 67%. By that, I hand over to Pontus for a trading update.
Yes. Thank you, Martin. For the trading update, we're on an average daily revenue up until 16th of April, which is equal to the full second quarter last year, which we are really happy about. We've been able to continue our strong performance into this month, despite the challenges we have with the ongoing pandemic. Looking forward, it's of course hard for us to predict what is going to happen. It's very uncertain when the major sporting events will come back, and it's also very hard to predict the duration of the impact from COVID-19. From the inside of Betsson, we must strongly state that all major business activities remain as normal, and that's really good for us and an important message that we continue to work in the same good spirit as we have done so far.
On the product and technology update. We have launched the new casino product, Jalla, that jallar, which is a mobile casino, mobile first, with really smart access and payment methods. It's based on simplicity in both registration, deposits, and withdrawals. This segment of casino sites represents close to 20% of the Swedish online casino gaming market. The Sportsbook has been enabled for business- to- business, we were aiming to launch that initiative before the European Championship, that has now been postponed, we will see when we launch the Sportsbook. That will be in relation to when bigger sports are coming back. Still, the solid technical platform and flexible odds compiling drive revenue to relevant events. Additional markets and new features have been added, there are ongoing developments on the Sportsbook to be compliant in new markets.
Of course, different time for our Sportsbook and a challenging time, but still we keep on developing, and we keep on operating with the sports offerings that we have. On regulation and sustainability, Netherlands market opening is postponed until July 2021, which means they have extended the cooling-off period. In Germany, there have been some changes. Licensed sports betting market open on the 1st of January, interim regime until July 2021, and there will be a federal ban on online casino and wagering limits. The sports betting licensing came to a halt in early April as the licensing process was deemed non-transparent, and this will create further delays. In Latvia, there have been emergency measures taken due to COVID-19, requiring all gambling venues, including online gambling, to be closed. Betsson has filed a complaint in the local administrative court against this decision.
In Spain, there has been a temporary ban of all gambling advertising due to COVID-19 outbreak. On the sustainability side, we normally report quite some figures and impact that relates to responsible gaming and things like that. In this special situation, we focus on the part of our sustainability framework called community impact. Betsson support its local communities through this COVID-19 challenge by some different initiatives. We have remote working for social distancing for all our employees. We're supporting local health organizations. We have company apartments that we have given out to frontline healthcare workers so that they can stay away from their families if they work in challenging environments. We have also done donations and investments in personal protective equipment. Quite a lot of initiatives on different locations and from all different Betsson offices in this challenging time.
A brief summary to this report. It's a strong quarter in all areas, and it proves that our strategic direction is working out well. We have a new product launched with a really nice user experience called Jalla Casino for the Swedish market. There's a big milestone that we have reached by signing the first business-to-business Sportsbook customer. Of course, the launch will be delayed, but it's a breakthrough. We have an all-time high revenue in the Sportsbook, which is performing really well. That, of course, goes hand in hand with our B2B ambitions. It's a really nice position to have a Sportsbook that outperforms and, at the same time, offer that Sportsbook to the market. We have made a very interesting acquisition of a profitable gaming vertical, namely the GiG B2C business.
That shows the power of our balance sheet and our strategy that we grow both by organic growth and acquisitions. We have done the share buyback program to improve the capital structure, and we think we can say that we show quite a strong resilience to market fluctuations. We show high and stable profit margins, and we have a strong balance sheet to create opportunity for both organic growth, which we do by investing in new regions, new products, but also acquisitive growth. We keep on looking for potential targets. That's all for now, and we hand over to Q&A.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial zero one on your telephone keypads now to enter the queue. Once your name has been announced, you can ask your question. If you find your question is answered before it's your turn to speak, you can dial zero two to cancel. There'll be a brief pause now whilst we register your questions. Our first question comes from Martin Arnell of DNB Markets. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Good morning, guys.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Before we move into questions on the numbers, can we just touch upon the latest in Sweden this morning? I know Sweden is nowadays a rather small market for you. We had the Social Security Minister, Ardalan Shekarabi, comment about restrictions in the Swedish regulated market to protect the vulnerable Swedish consumers. What's your first take on these comments and the rationale, et cetera? Any comments on that, please?
Before we go deeper into that kind of comment, we need to evaluate that statement. We believe that in order to protect the Swedish consumers, which is the aim, then you need to make sure that the Swedish consumers use the services by the licensed gaming companies. That should be a target in all kinds of decisions and actions. I'm not so sure that the proposals that have been put forward points in that direction. We will get back to be able to comment this at a later stage when we have done a full assessment.
Okay, thanks. You don't know if it's just a proposal or if it's actual regulation imposed right now?
We don't know that at this point of time.
Okay, thanks. On the figures-
I can say one more thing. From what I heard of the proposals, I find some of them should be probably quite hard to implement from a technical standpoint in a short timeframe.
Okay. If we start with the trading update, you had 2% organic growth in April so far. Can you say anything on the growth split, sports versus casino, please?
Yeah. I can comment, everybody understands that the sports is not as big as it normally is at this point of time. It has taken quite a big hit from the lack of sport events. Naturally, some of that revenue has shifted over to casino because people seek entertainment, and if they can't entertain themselves on one product, they tend to at least move some of that need to another product. There is a shift, of course.
Okay. Thanks. Also on that trading statement, your GiG acquisition, that comes into the numbers from mid-April, so that's not included in the trading, correct?
That's correct. We closed the GiG acquisition around that time, so that is not included in the figures in the trading update. It will, of course, be added to our revenues for the rest of the quarter.
Do you have similar growth expectations for the GiG brands as you have for your organic casinos?
Yes. I can't comment on the different brands. The whole acquisition looks good as it stands. We have, of course, the ambition to grow that part of our business as well. I know that we have some ideas of how to achieve that.
Okay, thanks. On the new brand replacing Sverigeautomaten, the Jalla Casino brand that you mentioned.
You launched that a month ago, is that correct?
It's close to a month ago. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. How did you reason between an organic initiative in Pay N Play versus a potential for an acquisition?
We believe that one does not exclude the other, and we have quite a strong platform, and we wanted to enable that platform to this product niche. Now we have done that, and by doing that, we have one of the strongest offering within the Pay N Play area. I think that was a wise decision.
Okay. The [Real] numbers look quite incredible this quarter with local currency growth of 170% or something. Is there anything that has changed in that market that has benefited you in the near term, or anything you've done on the product side?
There's nothing that has changed in the market as such. We've been developing the product on and on since quite a long time, and it has become better and better, and it's quite a big part of their revenues, which comes from the Sportsbook. When the Sportsbook performs well, then the figures perform well. It's a result of a long time effort put into the Sportsbook, mainly the Sportsbook product. That, of course, doesn't only come and enhance the figures on that market, but all markets, but it turns out stronger on that market where the Sportsbook is really big.
Okay. Thanks. On your cost efficiency and the outlook for that now with sports events canceled and all of that, is there anything new you're doing on costs and how much is there left for you in this area in cost efficiency?
We are really cost efficient as a company, and that is proved by the high profit margin that we have. We keep on being cautious on costs. On the other hand, we are in a strong position and we have some real good initiatives going on with new products, new markets, and a lot of good stuff. We don't want to put a halt to those investments, and we don't see a reason to do it either. We're going to continue to be cost cautious, but we're not going to implement any cost reduction programs or stop any growth initiatives because of the current situation. We want to invest in the good trend that we are at and really explore that trend.
Okay. Thank you. Just a final question. Returning to this first subject on the statements in Sweden today, do you see a risk for this spreading to other markets that may impact you more?
There is always the risk that different markets come up with different changes to regulations. We have seen that before. I can't see any direct risk from any markets right now that I know about, but it's evident to everybody that regulated markets are not sustainable and in that regard. Let's just hope that all the markets that have local regulation keep their regulation in a fashion so that they can keep the regulated operators.
Okay. Thank you guys. That's all from me.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Oscar Erixon of Carnegie. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Good morning, guys. A few questions from me. First, related to the cost and cost efficiency. Obviously, personnel costs have been quite disciplined. Can you please elaborate a bit on the quite high marketing now in Q1? Is it related to any specific market campaigns, or is it more a general boost ahead of the previously planned Euro Championship? Thank you.
Thank you. I don't think there is a certainly high marketing cost in the first quarter. It's in line with our plans and it's, in my view, nothing that stands out.
Got it. To follow up there, you have quite strong momentum in the early stages of Q2 with casino contributing a lot, I suppose. Will that mean that you don't have to be so vigilant on costs and marketing costs, especially, in Q2?
Of course, we have taken measures on all marketing that was planned and was related to sport. If we would not be in this situation, the whole world, then probably Betsson would be in an even higher trending revenue than we are today. In that regard, we have, of course, pulled back a bit on marketing, but we don't make any dramatic changes. We have to make sure that we continue to grow, and we continue to invest in our future.
Yes, sure. I'll take it again. My question was on casino in the Nordics, which saw a decline year-over-year. Looking at the tax data from Sweden, the market in Sweden seems to have stabilized for you. If you could please elaborate on what Nordic markets were the strongest and what were the weakest. I suppose Norway continues to be quite weak, and Denmark, we've seen some new limitations from a regulatory perspective from January. If you could please elaborate. Thank you.
Yeah. Sweden, as you indicate, we have stabilized and turned upwards since a few quarters, which we're happy about. Norway is probably lower than the same quarter last year, but still we're doing pretty well there. Denmark, we have introduced a new product, so Denmark is not that bad for us either.
Got it. The final question on the GiG acquisition. Looking at the numbers from 2019 for GiG's B2C business, growth was quite limited, but on the other hand, lower marketing and improved margins made it quite an interesting year. Is that the plan also going forward, to maintain the revenue level and improve the margins? Was it, as you said, that you plan to grow this, and if so, how? Thank you.
Yes, we plan to grow this. Obviously, as we have communicated, this is an acquisition which is profitable from day one for us, so it's a nice bolt-on. Of course, we have plans long term, and we want to grow revenues from these brands as well over time. At some point of time, we should also put those operations on our platform, but that's further down the road. For the time being, we want to grow those brands, we want to invest in them, and we want them to grow in line with the rest of our revenues.
Great. Follow up there, Sweden has basically gone to zero for GiG over the past year. What markets do you see the best growth potential in going forward? I suppose Finland and Norway are the key markets, along with Germany. Thank you.
The markets that you mentioned, all three of them are important markets and may be considered key markets for Betsson, at least the Nordic markets. We have not decided to go for any certain markets. All the markets that contribute with large revenues in the GiG brand, we want them to grow also in the future.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Marlon Varnik of Pareto Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, good morning. Marlon Varnik at Pareto Securities.
Hello, good morning.
Good morning. A follow-up question on the trading update for the second quarter. Can you please give some details here on the casino trend? If you compare to the casino activity first half of April compared to second half of March, what have you seen?
It's hard to comment in detail, but of course, in the second half of March, sports turned down gradually, and of course, casino increased gradually at the same time. It's been a shift there, which didn't happen from one day to the other.
Sure. The trend in casino, compared to the first half of April to second half of March, have you seen any trend shifts there?
No. As I tried to indicate, as the sports turned weaker in the second half of March, then the casino increased. If the sports kind of flattened out at some point of time, then the casino did as well, I would say, on a new level.
What about the Sportsbook volume for the first half of April compared to normal years?
It's of course not at all nearby the normal levels, but I'm impressed by the fact that we still have the levels that we have, and it shows that the customers are really eager to play, and they kind of like the product because they hang in there, even though the offering is quite weak.
All right. Also on the Swedish regulations, can you give some details here for the Swedish market for bets in terms of revenue, for example, from VIP players and so on?
No, I have no such information here.
Okay. In terms of the Latvian operators, they preferred the temporary suspended licenses before those deposit limits, because there might be a risk that those deposit limits might not get fully lifted after 31st of December. What's your view here? The temporary suspension of license compared to the deposit limits?
I think temporary suspension of license is very draconic. I think it's a decision that kind of moves things in the wrong direction, because what it does is that it push the demand outside the regulated areas. I think that is not a good decision. As I said before, any changes to regulations that push players outside of the regulation is bad for the player, and they shouldn't be implemented in times like this.
Do you see any risk that those limits might not get fully lifted after corona?
This is a very new proposal. We haven't done any analysis. The only thing I know is that players, they want to play, and they want to play on a competitive offering. If they don't find that offering in the regulated market, they will definitely find it outside the regulated market. That's not what the regulators want.
All right. For the Norwegian market payment solutions, there have been some recent news that the bank will stop processing payments from tomorrow, the 24th of April. Can you please comment a bit about this, and what share of total deposits is from bank transfers in the Norwegian market?
I don't know what share is from local bank transfers at all, and I don't know about that proposal either. We have been managing to handle payments from Norway in a good fashion all the way, and we have a very strong payment product, probably the strongest in the industry. We are really well-geared to handle payments from all different jurisdictions.
All right. Okay, thanks.
Thanks.
Thank you once again. If there are any further questions, please dial zero one on your telephone keypads now. I'm sorry, no further questions coming through at this time. I'll hand back to our speakers.
Yes, we will check here if there are some questions from the web.
Yes, we have a few questions from the web. First of all, three questions from Max Barde. He's starting off with the congratulations to a strong quarter.
Thank you.
He asks, as the GiG acquisition was so cheap, do you see any problems with that business? He's also asking if you see any potential further acquisitions during the corona crisis. Is it possible that you will make more share buybacks in the future?
First one, yes, the acquisition was done at a good price. I think it was a good timing and a good negotiation and a well-structured deal. What was the second one?
Second question was if there's any further potentials for acquisitions during the corona crisis.
Yes, we analyze further acquisitions, and we haven't done any changes to our M&A activities due to the crisis. We will continue to explore that.
third question was if there's any potential more share buyback programs onwards.
I can't comment on that one. No comment on that.
We have a question from Timo Bischoff. He's asking, could you give us some guidance on how much Sportsbook revenue can be obtained from sports like esports and table tennis?
Yeah. It's hard to guide. Obviously, the total volume of sports betting has gone down significantly, but it's impressive to see how much volumes that has moved to new channels. Possibly that is something that remains after those crises, that people have found new sports to play at. We have a broader offering which we didn't have before, so something good will come out of all this.
That's all from the web.
Thank you. Do we have any further questions from the phone?
None at this time. Once again, if there are any final questions, please dial zero one on your telephone keypads now. No, it seems there's no further questions from the phone. I'll hand back to you for the closing comments.
Okay. Thanks a lot for attending, and excuse us for these interruptions that we had. We hope to be back in a different communication channel three months from now. Thanks a lot, everybody, for attending. Bye-bye.