(Reuters) -British betting firm Evoke warned on Thursday first-half earnings would miss its expectations after weaker than expected online revenue growth in the second quarter and subdued returns from marketing, hitting its shares.
Shares in the company, whose brands include William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, fell more than 8% in early trade, the biggest percentage decline on the FTSE Small Cap index,
Evoke, formerly known as 888 Holdings, unveiled a strategy in March to focus on its core markets and invest in automation and artificial intelligence to save on costs.
It said on Thursday first-half adjusted core profit would be about 35-40 million pounds ($46-$52 million) below its expectations, impacting its 2024 results. It did not say what those expectations were or give a forecast for the full year.
CEO Per Widerström described the results as “disappointing”, adding the company’s transformation would take time.
Investec analysts said in a note that a profit warning in the first few months after appointing a new CEO and revamped management team was “very unhelpful”.
Evoke said that although online revenue returned to growth in the second quarter, it was short of its estimates.
The company, however, said it expected second-half profits to increase “significantly” from the first, helped by lower marketing costs.
Evoke said its fiscal year 2025 expectations and medium-term targets of 5%-9% revenue growth per year remained unchanged.
($1 = 0.7693 pounds)
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Mark Potter)
