Evoke CEO Per Widerström confirmed UK retail closures, noting the group had secured long-term sustainability in terms of cash regeneration and profitability.
Fielding questions during Evoke’s delayed FY2025 results on Thursday, CEO Per Widerström assured investors and analysts that the team was, and had been, focused on delivering shareholder value over the last couple of years.
One analyst flagged that the operator had suffered continuous share price losses and debt had increased during Widerström’s tenure at the helm.
“Being a shareholder myself I can reassure you that we are absolutely focused on delivering shareholder value,” the CEO responded during the call. “After years of decline in terms of revenue and profitability, we are back to growth. We have substantially improved the EBITDA margin and we are deleveraging. That is what we can control, and that is what we are focusing on.”
In terms of the numbers, group revenue during the period grew 2% YoY to £1.78 billion, while EBITDA, as mentioned by Widerström, ticked up 43% to £301 million.
However, substantial losses were incurred during the period as profit after tax declined by 149% to a loss of £541 million.
In a note released today, Regulus Partners described the group’s revenue growth as “effectively a real-terms decline given inflation is running higher than this in all core markets”.
It flagged a 3% decline in UK&I revenue, caused by a 12% decline in betting revenue on flat stakes and 2% growth in gaming.
No impact from UK RGD tax hike, yet
Giving an update on the figures since the Remote Gaming Duty increase came in in April, CFO Sean Wilkins told analysts the group had not yet seen any impact from the tax hike. He said he was pleased with the UK online business’ performance and he did not expect its revenue mix to change as a result of the tax increase.
Like peers Bally’s and Entain, Evoke expects to seize market share in the UK as smaller operators feel the impact of the tax hikes.
“We expect to see market consolidation and we think that a long tail of players will get hit disproportionately hard by the tax implementation, and that will cause us to improve our market share.”
However, international revenue ticked up 9% thanks to record revenues in Italy and Denmark. Widerström said the operator was taking market share in both regions.
On UK retail, Widerström confirmed the closure of a number of shops. The segment dipped 1% during the 12 months. “We have a fantastic plus 1,000 shops that are providing an excellent service, experience and entertainment to our customers,” the CEO noted.
By cutting down the estate, he said the group had secured long-term sustainability in terms of cash regeneration and profitability.
He touched on general macro-economic trends that were impacting retail betting performance and said the group had conducted a very thorough review of its estate.
Debt up and cash flow impacted by one-off regulation and tax costs
On cash flow and debt, hot topics for analysts and investors following Evoke, net cash at the end of 2025 was minus £34 million, from a positive inflow of £9 million in 2024. Net debt increased slightly to £1.86 billion, from £1.79 billion in 2024.
On this, Wilkins said: “It’s fair to say that I was a little disappointed at our cash flow performances in the year, albeit a good chunk of this is just timing related.”
The company was impacted during the period by a reclassification of historical gaming tax in Austria, which incurred a one-off cost of £8 million in 2025. Additionally, the company also paid a one-off licensing fee in Italy as the market updated its licensing regime.
During the call, Widerström said he would not address questions relating to the group’s ongoing strategic review, which has led to talks with Bally’s Intralot about taking over Evoke in a £225 million deal.
Talks are set to conclude in May. During Bally’s Intralot earnings call last week, CEO Robeson Reeves talked up Evoke’s UK online and international businesses as opportunities for the lottery group.
“We see a compelling opportunity to bring our operating model to a significantly larger business and the potential to transform its financial performance through synergies we are uniquely positioned to deliver,” Reeves said.
