REG - Evoke PLC - Acquisition of Winner.ro

EvokeAnnouncement

23/08/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5695B  Evoke PLC  23 August 2024

 

23 August 2024

 

evoke Plc

("evoke" or "the Group")

 

Acquisition of Winner.ro

Creation of evoke's fifth Core Market with leading position in high-growth,
regulated Romania online market

evoke (LSE: EVOK), one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies
with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green,
is pleased to announce the acquisition of New Gambling Solutions S.R.L
("NGS"), which operates Winner.ro ("Winner"), the #7 online betting and gaming
operator in Romania.

evoke will inject its Romania business plus a cash consideration of €10
million (on a debt-free, cash-free basis) in exchange for a 51% share in the
enlarged Romania business, which will bring together 888.ro with Winner to
create the #4 group in the market with combined market share of approximately
7%. The combined Romania business, NGS, will operate a multi-brand strategy,
leveraging a local hero brand alongside a highly-complementary, world-renowned
casino brand.

Based on a 2026 earn-out calculation, evoke will own between 51% and 57% of
the business, with an option at its sole discretion to increase ownership to
100% from the third anniversary of completion.

The combination of Winner and 888 in Romania fully aligns with evoke's
strategy and value creation plan:

·    The large and fast-growing Romanian market was worth approximately
€1.1 billion in net revenue in 2023 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13%
from 2023-2026 (Regulus Partners). The attractive market dynamics are creating
rising barriers to entry, with strict local regulations and high levels of
localisation.

·    Winner was launched in 2019 and has built a strong market presence
through its focused strategy to deliver innovative products, highly localised
experiences, and significant local distribution through 20k retail deposit
points. In the first 6 months of 2024, Winner delivered gross gaming revenue
of approximately €19 million.

·    The transaction is consistent with evoke's strategy to focus on
low-capital, high-impact routes to value creation. It is expected to enhance
earnings and reduce leverage for the Group in 2025 and beyond benefitting from
both strong growth in the Romanian market, an effective dual-brand strategy
enhancing ROI from marketing, and synergies from the business combination.

·    The combined business will operate on the third-party Newton
platform, benefitting from a highly localised technology, product, and player
platform. The combination will also leverage evoke's scale benefits, as well
as the Group's key competitive advantages of data and intelligent automation
and leading distinct brands.

·    The combined business will be managed by Nicklas Zajdel, the current
Winner CEO who joined the business in 2023 and has since successfully managed
the rollout of an all-new product suite, and delivered profitable growth.  A
highly effective local management team and nearly 80 people in Romania
delivers leading local insight and capabilities that provide significant
competitive advantages. This will further complement approximately 500 people
in evoke based in Romania, which is one of evoke's strategic centres for Group
functions.

·    Romania will become evoke's fifth Core Market, joining the UK, Italy,
Spain and Denmark. Each of these are large and highly attractive regulated
markets, where the Group is well placed to deliver sustainable profitable
growth. The combined business is targeting a podium position by leveraging its
enhanced local expertise to grow market share.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory clearances and is expected
to close in Q3 2024. The transaction is not expected to impact financial
leverage in 2024, and is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2025 and beyond.
The transaction does not change the recently issued guidance for FY24, with H2
2024 revenue growth of 5-9% and an Adjusted EBITDA margin expected to improve
to approximately 21%.

Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, commented:

"I am excited to announce the addition of Winner to the evoke portfolio. This
acquisition is consistent with our strategy to build sustainable
market-leading profitable positions in the most attractive markets. It is also
consistent with our M&A strategy to focus on low-capital, high-impact
combinations that accelerate the delivery of our strategy.

We have enjoyed significant success in Romania, which is an exciting growth
market. This combination will cement a leading position for evoke, and I am
looking forward to working with the whole team at Winner to deliver ongoing
profitable growth and market share gains, as we deliver exceptional products
through two incredibly strong and complementary brands.

I am delighted to announce the creation of our fifth Core Market and have no
doubt that this transaction will deliver significant value creation on top of
our previously announced plan."

Nicklas Zajdel, CEO of Winner, commented:

"This is an incredibly exciting transaction, bringing together our local-hero
brand, with one of the world's strongest international casino brands.

Romania is a high-growth market, and this combination sets us on the path to a
sustainable, profitable, market-leading position. Winner has a strong
leadership team and we are building on our success in the market through our
highly localised approach, and competitive advantages such as our product
platform, our enhanced personalisation, and wide network of deposit points.

I look forward to working with the team at evoke to further deploy these
competitive advantages across the enlarged business, driving significant
benefits to our customers with enhanced personalisation, and ultimately
driving our success in the market and value creation."

 

Partis Capital acted as financial advisor to NGS

Enquiries and further information:

 evoke Plc                               +44(0) 800 029 3050
 Per Widerström, CEO

 Sean Wilkins, CFO

 Vaughan Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer

 Investor Relations                      ir@888holdings.com (mailto:ir@888holdings.com)

 James Finney, Director of IR

 Media                                   evoke@hudsonsandler.com (mailto:evoke@hudsonsandler.com)
 Hudson Sandler                          +44(0) 207 796 4133

 Alex Brennan / Andy Richards

 

ABOUT WINNER

Winner.ro is a leading Romanian-licensed online sports betting and casino
brand, recognised for its exceptional customer experience and relentless
dedication to product innovation. Continuously evolving its platform with the
latest technology, Winner.ro ensures a seamless and enjoyable experience for
all players. Offering real-time betting on major sports events and a diverse
selection of attractive online casino games, Winner.ro creates an unparalleled
gaming environment that caters to both newcomers and seasoned players alike.

ABOUT NEWTON

Newton is a pioneering technology provider in the casino industry, originally
established to deliver cutting-edge solutions for land-based casinos. Over the
years, Newton has evolved into a leader in the online gaming sector, offering
a state-of-the-art online casino platform that sets the standard for
innovation and player engagement. The Newton platform is renowned for its high
level of personalisation, advanced gamification features, and robust
capabilities in bonus management, fraud detection, and customer relationship
management (CRM). As part of the company's commitment to staying at the
forefront of technology, Newton's latest focus is on integrating advanced AI
capabilities into the platform.

About evoke Plc:

evoke plc (and together with its subsidiaries, "evoke" or the "Group") is one
of the world's leading betting and gaming companies. The Group owns and
operates internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888, and Mr
Green. Incorporated in Gibraltar, and headquartered and listed in London, the
Group operates from offices around the world.

The Group's vision is to make life more interesting and its mission is to
delight players with world-class betting and gaming experiences.

Find out more at: https://www.evokeplc.com (https://www.evokeplc.com)

 

Important Notices

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements, beliefs or
opinions, with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and
business of evoke. These statements, which contain the words "anticipate",
"believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "seek", "continue",
"aim", "target", "projected", "plan", "goal", "achieve", words of similar
meaning or other forward looking statements, reflect evoke's beliefs and
expectations and are based on numerous assumptions regarding evoke's present
and future business strategies and the environment evoke will operate in and
are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially. No representation is made that any of these statements or
forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of evoke to be materially different from
those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Many of these
risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond evoke's ability to
control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency
fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of
regulators and other factors such as evoke's ability to continue to obtain
financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and
regulatory framework in which evoke operates or in economic or technological
trends or conditions. Past performance of evoke cannot be relied on as a guide
to future performance. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on such forward-looking statements. The list above is not exhaustive
and there are other factors that may cause evoke's actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date and evoke, its
respective parent and subsidiary undertakings, the subsidiary undertakings of
such parent undertakings, and any of such person's respective directors,
officers, employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any
obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the forward-looking
statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under
applicable law. No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit
forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this announcement should be
interpreted to mean that the financial performance of evoke for the current or
future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical
published for evoke.

 

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