The financial report of Kindred Group for Q3 2020

The third quarter of 2020 helped Kindred Group, one of the world’s leading online gambling operators, to regain its growth through a massive rebound due to sports competitions beginning again all over the world.

How exactly did that happen and why?

Here is a detailed financial report of the group for July – September:

For a start, the main takeaway is that the third quarter had a huge growth comparing to Q1 and Q2, given that the majority of the sport events came back in summer. This translated into a rise of 21.2% of the overall sums bet by the players, comparing to the same quarter of 2019.

The amount may be incredible, but the first two quarters were off target. The first (Q1) translated into a loss of 14.7% comparing to the same timeframe in 2019. The second quarter went even more under the 2019 threshold: The decrease was almost 38% comparing to the same 2019 quarter.

The general line of Q3 is this: A strong rebound of sports, and a growth driven by the locally regulated markets.

Speaking of the strong rebound of sports, Kindred Group continued to see a strong demand for sports and entertainment from the customers. Some countries, like France, returned back to the levels recorded at the beginning of the year.

But the Q3 growth wasn’t related only to sports betting, but to activities in casinos – related to games, poker and other products. These activities somehow compensated for the temporary loss in the Sportsbook during the spring decrease.

Poker and casino games continued though to remain strong despite the return of the sports, thus keep on contributing to the overall success for Kindred Group. And all the growth was helped also by the accelerated migration from offline to online.

For instance, casino and games represent more than half of the gross winning revenue for Q3 (52%), but in a solid decrease. That is not a bad sign, instead it is explained by the rebound in live betting for the July – September quarter.

Then there are the locally regulated markets, which drove the growth by +13%, year-to-year. For example, the revenues in Sweden are growing steadily with improving sustainable profit contribution during 2020.

Big focus on the United States

Henrik Tjarnstrom, the CEO of the Group, explained that there is still more besides the strong Sportsbook activity and the locally regulated markets which contributed to the steady growth. For example, the dedicated team continuing to make a difference, and also the encouraging developments in the United States.

The company’s aim is to be live in at least five states by the end of 2021. For example, the launch in Illinois is expected to be in early 2021. Then, in Ohio, the launch will happen most likely later in the same year. At the end of July, Kindred became live in a total of three states after launching in Indiana.

“The US is a key investment market where our team have been working hard to go live in our third state, Indiana, during the quarter. (…) It is encouraging to see the continued strong growth in the US, with the market share in Pennsylvania reaching above 5 per cent during the third quarter. With New Jersey and Indiana also growing steadily, I expect the US to become one of Kindred’s largest markets during the next couple of years”, said Tjarnstrom.

So, here are some interesting conclusions after the Q3: The most important is that Kindred Group managed to overcome the difficult moment earlier this year when the industry (and many others) experienced a slippery slope due to the worldwide sanitary measures. Also, the sports returned faster than expected, and the financial position is a strong one at this point. Cost control was, well, under control, and the operators, authorities and regulators will need to cooperate closely for a sustainable gambling market.

Last, but not least, there is this: There are two years of sport coming.

About Kindred Group:

Kindred Group is one of the world’s leading online gambling operators with business across Europe, US and Australia, being founded in 1997 by Anders Strom. Its headquarters is in Malta.

The company consists of 11 brands, with Unibet being its flagship. It offers online casino, online poker, and sports betting, with hundreds of events available. The Group has more than 27 million customers, who can enjoy a safe, fair and sustainable form of entertainment.

Kindred Group has more than 1,600 employees, and it is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap. Also, it is a founding member of ESSA – sports betting integrity. The company passed one billion dollars in revenue in 2019, and the numbers are expected to be similar in 2020.