Entain plc

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and a very warm welcome to today's call. I am delighted to be here, not only to share a strong set of results, but also to speak to you today as Entain's permanent CEO. It is a huge honour to lead this incredible business at such an important and exciting time on our journey. I am joined today by Rob Wood, our CFO and Deputy CEO, and our Investor Relations team, and we're looking forward to taking you through today's update. So here's the plan for this morning. I'll start with the headlines and some highlights on the operational progress we are delivering. Rob will then dig into the trading performance and the outlook, and then we're going to open it up for your questions. But before we get into Q1, I want to take a moment to briefly reflect on where Entain is today. We are a business with great potential. We have been honest about the challenges and we have faced into the brutal truths. And importantly, we have acted. And now we are starting to see real results. A return to growth, stronger momentum, and a business that's getting sharper, faster, and fitter every day. Entain is already a global player, but there is so much more potential. With iconic brands, a growing footprint across regulated markets, and a strategy that is delivering, the opportunity ahead of us is significant. And we will deliver on our potential by elevating and accelerating our performance with focus and teamwork every single day, committing ourselves to deliver improvements. So let's dive into Q1. Ensign has had a strong start to 2025 with results ahead of expectations and momentum building across the business. Beyond the benefits of favourable sports margins, what really matters is that our improved operational execution is making a real impact and setting the foundations for sustainable growth. Both Entain and BetMGM ended 2024 strongly. And this quarter, we have built on that progress. A few key headlines for Q1. Total group NGR, including our share of BetMGM, was up 11% in constant currency. Entane Group NGR grew 8%, with online up 10% and retail up 2%. Looking now across the business, UK Online delivered outstanding growth, up 23 percentage points, with strong customer volumes and supportive support margins. Brazil continues to shine, up 31%, as we transition successfully to the new regulatory regime. BetMGM continues to gather pace with strong growth across iGaming and online sports. Investment in product, player experience and engagement are delivering, and the customer metrics give us even more confidence in the months ahead. So it's been a strong start to the year, but we all know there is still a lot, lot more to do. In fact, I'm banking on it. Inputs drive outputs, and we're just getting started. So if 2024 was about facing the brutal truths and stopping losing, then 2024 is about one thing, starting to win again and winning in the right way. So with that, I'm going to now hand over to Rob to take you through the numbers in more detail. Over to you, Rob.

Thank you, Stella. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be reporting another strong set of numbers for Entain, with Q1 coming in ahead of expectations. Just as you heard from BetMGM yesterday, Entain has started 2025 strongly, with improving momentum from 2024 continuing so far this year. So let's dig into Q1 details. And as usual, all revenue growth numbers that I quote will be in constant currency. Group NGR was ahead of expectations for both Entain and BetMGM. Including our half of BetMGM, Group NGR was up 11%, and within that, Online NGR was up a very pleasing 15%. Excluding the US, Entain's NGR was 8% ahead, with Online better than expected at plus 10%, and Retail in line with expectations at plus 2%. So what were the drivers of our outperformance versus expectations in online? Two things. Firstly, we saw stronger than expected volume growth in the UK, particularly in gaming. And secondly, sports results were a good guide this quarter. We shall elaborate on further in a moment. So together, UK volumes and a favourable win margin drove the beat to expectation in online. Now, digging into online growth in more detail, which, as I said, was up 10% for XUS NGR. Firstly, sports margin was up 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, up to 14.9%, thanks to favourable football results across Europe, and that accounted for approximately two percentage points of the 10% NGR growth in online. Looking by market now, And UK and Ireland had a fantastic Q1 in online, with NGR up 23% year-on-year. Aside from a small benefit from sports margins, what's really pleasing is that the growth in the UK is driven by volumes. Volumes were up 21%, with both sports and gaming better than expected. As you know, a key driver of our UK year-on-year performance is the simplification of customer journeys and the leveling of the playing field from the voluntary code last year. But we are also supporting these tailwinds with investment behind our brands in both products and marketing. And importantly, we expect to have outperformed the market in the UK in Q1, which marks the start of a return to fall for our UK brands. For international, online NGR increased by 4% year-on-year. Brazil grew 31% as we successfully launched into the new regulatory regime. Our ongoing focus on localized products and our partnership with Palmares are resonating well with local customers, and our acquisition and retention KPIs remain strong. In Q2, we will lap the Copa America tournament last year, and we have tougher comps in H2, but we're pleased with our outperformance so far in 2025 and remain positive about the Brazilian markets and our competitive position. In Australia, NGR was down 8% year-on-year, mainly due to adverse horse racing results. And in Italy, NGR was up 7% year-on-year, in line with expectations. Importantly, we held market share in Italy for the third consecutive quarter, with Eurovets continuing to perform better than our online-only brands. Many other international markets have started the year strongly. Spain, Greece, New Zealand, Canada and Austria all saw double-digit growth in Q1. And it's this geographic diversity that provides consistency in our blended group performance, allowing us to absorb the expected declines in Belgium and the Netherlands while still producing growth overall. Onto Enteng CEE, and double-digit growth continued into Q1, with NGR up 13%, as both Supersport in Croatia and STS in Poland capitalized on their number one market positions. And just a quick comment on retail. Retail NGR at plus 2% in Q1 was in line with expectations as the benefits of favourable sports results offset softer-than-expected volumes in UK gaming. You'll remember I called out some softness in the UK gaming market on previous updates, and this has continued. However, our UK retail business took share in Q4, and we expect it to have taken share again in Q1, as we continue to invest and outperform our peers on the high street. Onto the outlook for 2025 now. We are pleased with our Q1 trading, and Q2 has begun well on both volumes and sports margin. Just as with BetMGM yesterday, we now look forward to the rest of the year with increased confidence. All existing guidance is retained, and so we are reiterating our online XUS NGR expectation of mid-single-digit growth on a constant currency basis. That constant currency point is important for your modeling, given FX rates continue to affect our reported numbers. As we look ahead for the rest of the year, the year-on-year comparators start to get tougher for both BetMGM and Dentanex US, and therefore growth rates will ease. But importantly, that's not a reflection of the strong underlying momentum that we are seeing in the business. In summary, we have started 2025 strong. Our key markets are performing well and our strategy is working. We are improving operational execution. We are investing into our brands and products. We are benefiting from a leading portfolio of podium positions in attractive and regulated growth markets. Put it all together and we are returning Intane to long-term structural growth with the highest quality of earnings. With that, I'll hand the call to the operator to open to Q&A.

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