888 Holdings today released its 2023 Post-Close trading update and announced it will cut jobs in a bid to cut costs.
The international betting and gambling company, which owns brands UK bookmaker William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, revealed a £30 million ($37 million) saving plan.
The company noted an 8% decline in total sales across 2023, from £ 1.8 billion ($ 2.2 billion) last year to £ 1.7 billion ($ 2.2 billion) in 2023.
CEO stays positive despite drop in sales
Per Widerström was announced as CEO in July of 2023 and has taken over William Hill amid a rocky year for the firm.
Widerström said, “The financial performance of the Group must improve, and the actions we are taking will build a leaner, more agile, and more effective organization structure.”
“I have been working hard with the Board, our strengthened executive team and the talented people across the business to refine our strategic framework.”
The CEO remained positive about the company’s outlook despite the fall in share price, confidently stating that he is “looking forward to outlining our 2024-2026 plan alongside our full-year results in late March.”
Safer Gambling rules affect 888 profits
The UK will be implementing checks on gamblers across 2024. The move has been made to tighten regulation on betting companies and offer more support to those who are vulnerable to problem gambling.
888 recognized this change to gambling legislation in the trading update, noting that “revenue was further impacted by customer mix changes in the UK as a result of additional safer gambling measures, alongside the change in the Group’s marketing approach to focus more on sustainable revenue and profitability.”
The UK is not the only EU nation to enhance the current rules around gambling legislation as Italy announced a set of changes earlier this month.
Italian gambling agencies have criticized the move by the Economy and Finance (MEF) department of the Italian Government for being too costly.
Image credit: Jonathan Petersson, Pexels.
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