Playtech PLC

Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us for our 2026 interim results. As always, I will begin with a brief overview, before handing over to Chris, who will take you through the financials and the outlook. I will then update you on our progress against our strategic priorities. H1 2026 has been a landmark period for Playtech. The strategic transformation of our business has delivered an inflection point both in terms of profitability and cash generation. These results reflect the culmination of many years of hard work and disciplined execution across the group. Adjusted EBITDA increased 77% year-on-year to 163 million euros and free cash flow reached 101 million euros. This was underpinned by continued momentum across our regulated B2B business, where underlying revenue grew 21% alongside a strong contribution from our strategic investments. Importantly, this growth translated into meaningful operating leverage with adjusted EBITDA margin from operations increasing materially. The U.S. and Canada remained a key engine of growth in the half, with revenue increasing by 176%, supported by the strength of our partnership with Hard Rock Digital. We ended the period with a strong balance sheet, providing us with flexibility to continue investing in future growth opportunities while supporting shareholder returns. This performance is testament to the strategic transformation of the business and the execution by the team. And that is something I'm extremely proud of. While we are very pleased with what we have achieved, we believe there is much more to come. I will now hand over to Chris.

Thanks, Mark. on to slide five please for financial highlights. I'm pleased to report on the group's excellent financial performance. As a reminder, in early July, we updated the market on trading and delivered our third upgrade of the year confirming that adjusted EBITDA would be more than 155 million euros for H1 and more than 270 million euros for the full year. Strong operational execution drove adjusted EBITDA of 163 million euros in the first half, an increase of 77% compared to the prior year. The group performed strongly in the Americas with a standout performance in the US and growing contribution from our investment from income. We drove significant operating leverage with adjusted EBITDA margin from operations improving materially to 30.2% driven by the top-line performance as well as business optimization measures and addressing underperforming businesses which led to B2B costs declining 3% year-on-year. We also had €34 million in adjusted EBITDA from investment income with the majority from our associate Caliente. The group saw a step change in free cash flow which reached €101 million in H1 supported by growing investment income distributions. At the same time, we maintain a strong balance sheet, finishing the half with net cash of 39 million euros, even after repurchasing 1.8% of our equity capital in H1 for a total of 25 million euros. On to the next slide, please. Looking at our B2B revenue performance. Reported B2B revenue was 395 million euros, up 14% year-on-year, and up 17% on an underlying basis. whereby we exclude the impact of the revised Caliente Agreement in H1 of 2025. On the same basis, regulated B2B revenue grew 21%, reflecting very strong momentum in the Americas. US and Canada delivered 176% growth in constant currency, driven primarily by our growth of Hard Rock Digital, as well as success with Tier 1 operators across live, casino, and the PAM Plus verticals. This performance is testament to the group's strong strategic execution in recent years. In Latin America, underlying revenue grew 29%, driven by a strong half from Caliente in Mexico, as well as excellent growth in Colombia, which was supported by the continued constructive evolution of the regulatory environment there during the first half. Europe, excluding the UK, grew 2%, and when excluding a non-recurring hardware sale in the prior period, the region achieved growth of 10% driven by strong results in Poland and Spain. The UK was impacted by certain customer specific changes as well as the increased remote gaming duty. Turning to the next slide. Cost efficiency remains a focus for the group going forward, and in the first half of the year, we removed over 20 million euros of annual run rate costs from the business. This contributed to B2B costs declining 3% in the period, while allowing continued investments in areas such as the Americas, where we see the strongest potential for long-term returns. In our live vertical, we continued investing strategically while also looking at table optimization initiatives and operational efficiencies, which led to live costs being broadly flat year on year. We lowered our R&D expenses through certain optimization measures in non-core areas while maintaining our core R&D investment. We reduced G&A costs, primarily reflecting tight cost control in certain central corporate functions. Our disciplined cost management alongside strong revenue growth drove meaningful operational leverage and a significant improvement in B2B adjusted EBITDA margin to 32.4%. Going forward, we will continue to manage costs carefully, focusing investment on our areas of strategic priority, particularly in the Americas and live, while preserving efficiency and driving operational leverage over time. On to slide 8, where we look at how adjusted EBITDA translates into free cash flow. The strong growth in EBITDA combined with disciplined CapEx and capitalized development led to significant free cash flow of 101 million euros in the first half, which is a step change in cash generation compared to around 30 million for the full year of 2025. Slide 9, and now on to the balance sheet. Looking at our net cash bridge, we began the year with net cash of 29 million euros. As a reminder today, the group has one bond of 300 million euros maturing in June 2028, and we are currently assessing our refinancing options. During the half, we executed a 25 million euro on-market share buyback program, repurchasing 1.8% of our issued equity capital. As I said in March, at the end of 2025, we had approximately 90 million of cash outflows remaining related to the Snytex sale and as planned in the first half, we paid over 60 million of these with the remainder to be paid in the first half of 2027. I am pleased that despite these outflows in the first half, the strong free cash flow from the business and our investments means that our balance sheet remains very strong and we ended the first half in a net cash position of 39 million euros. As well as a reminder, we have our 225 million euro revolving credit facility, which remains fully undrawn. Next slide, please. As a reminder of our capital allocation policy, which I took you through in March, we look at it in three buckets. The first is growth. We continue to prioritize organic investments instead of priority product verticals, Such as live casino, and into high growth geographies across the Americas, including the US, Mexico, and Brazil. A key part of our framework remains our early stage investment by structured agreement models, where we typically partner with local heroes ahead of regulation, and as a result, directly participate in the future upside. This approach has proven to be successful through our long-standing success, including with Caliente Interactive and more recently with Hard Rock Digital. The second bucket is all about maintaining flexibility for uncertainties, including for regulatory updates and tax changes, as we've recently seen in certain markets, as well as for potential M&A. While there is no immediate plan for M&A, we remain prudent but open to selective opportunities, particularly those aligned with our ambition to strengthen Playtex's position as the leading B2B technology provider. Beyond those two buckets, our intention is to return what we see as structural surplus capital to shareholders. We returned approximately 100 million euros over the last 12 months through share buybacks, and a strong balance sheet and more sustainable free cash flow generation provides increased flexibility to look at both dividends and buybacks in the future while preserving our capacity to invest in growth. There are many factors we consider, including our bond, which matures in June 2028, but there are regular discussions at the board level to enhance returns to shareholders by dividends and or share buybacks. turning to slide 11 and our levers to achieve the top end of our median term financial targets of 300 million euros in adjusted EBITDA and 100 million euros in free cash flow. In the first half, we made rapid progress towards these goals with adjusted EBITDA of 163 million euros and free cash flow already reaching 101 million euros, reflecting both the strategic execution and operational efficiency that we promised. Starting with the U.S., the U.S. business is now profitable, sooner than we had expected, driven by strong performance across our live casino and PAM Plus verticals, but in particular by the significant success of our partnership with Hard Rock Digital. Last year, I said we had around 20 million euros of losses at the EBITDA level and 25 million euros at the cash flow level from underperforming businesses. We've already taken significant action to address these, including the wind-down of HappyBet, which is now near completion. At the same time, our core B2B operations continue to deliver, and we continue to capture growth from regulated markets. We're investing to further improve and innovate our key product verticals, while also optimizing costs and realizing benefits of the attractive economics within our structured agreements. Partnerships with leading operators remain a core competitive advantage, and we are pleased with the excellent momentum we are seeing with Hard Rock Digital, Caliente, and several others across the Americas and Europe. Collectively, these growth levers, coupled with a disciplined approach to cost management, and our focus on addressing underperformance are driving significant operating leverage. While we expect H2 adjusted EBITDA to be lower than H1, as we set out in our trading update on the 9th of July, we are ahead of schedule in delivering our medium term adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow targets. We are focused on execution in the second half and we will revisit our targets after the year end. Next slide, please. Finally, I would like to update you on our trading so far in the second half and the outlook. We've had an excellent start to H2, particularly across the Americas, where we continue to see sustained demand in the US, Mexico, and other markets. In the US, the strong activity we saw in Q2 has continued into Q3 so far. However, as previously flagged, we expect the contribution from Hard Rock Digital to continue at a lower but more sustainable level going forward. In Mexico, Caliente continues to perform strongly and we expect a further uplift after a successful period of customer acquisition during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Taking these factors together, we are maintaining our guidance for the full year of 2026 adjusted EBITDA of more than 270 million euros. And I'll now hand back to Mark to cover our strategic priorities.

Thanks, Chris. I will now take you through our investment case strategy, the progress made so far, and our ambitions for the future. I want to give you a reminder of our evolved business model, which was a key driver of our performance in the first half. Playtech today is a high-growth B2B technology business, serving more than 200 operators across over 50 regulated jurisdictions, providing mission-critical infrastructure to many of the world's leading gambling operators. Our B2B business operates in some of the fastest growing regulated markets globally and combines leading content and platform technology through value-accretive business models. This has enabled us to build long-standing partnerships with both major global operators and local hero brands. Alongside our core technology business, our multi-decade experience supporting B2B customers has enabled us to identify opportunities early and invest selectively, directly, and via our structured agreement framework. Through this strategy, we have built a portfolio of highly valuable strategic assets with a book value of more than 1.2 billion euros, including our stakes in Caliente Interactive and Hard Rock Digital and a number of other high-growth businesses. Together, Playtech's leading B2B technology business and portfolio of strategic assets creates a uniquely compelling investment proposition with multiple avenues for value creation. We believe this leaves us exceptionally well positioned to deliver attractive, sustainable value to our shareholders. In March, I outlined our strategic priorities as a focused B2B technology business. Firstly, our clear focus is on regulated and regulating markets, where we continue to see attractive long-term growth opportunities. In H1, we achieved very strong performance in the US, Mexico and Colombia, and the opportunity across the board is very exciting. Brazil remains a key strategic focus for Playtech, and we are well positioned to capitalize on the opportunity ahead, even more so since launching our Sao Paulo studio. Secondly, we continue to invest in products to ensure we stay at the forefront of innovation and I will talk more specifically on live in a moment. Finally, we continue to enhance operational efficiency across the business through ongoing cost optimization measures and actions to address underperformance, including the ongoing wind down of Happybit. We continued our deployment of AI across the business to drive revenue and cost opportunities. Like I said, I will talk to you shortly about our AI live virtual host product. As you can see, we continue to deliver against these priorities, which, underpinned by our sustainability strategy, provide a clear roadmap for Playtech to capture the significant opportunities ahead and create sustainable shareholder value. On to the next slide. Mexico represents a meaningful growth opportunity for Playtech, underpinned by our longstanding and successful partnership with Caliente Interactive. The structural tailwinds are compelling. Mexico's online gambling market continues to grow rapidly, with industry forecasts indicating it could nearly double in size over the next five years, and online GGR per adult remains significantly below comparable markets. Caliente has established a clear competitive moat and remains the undisputed market leader in Mexico with more than a century of brand heritage, deep local expertise, and one of the most extensive sponsorship portfolios in the region. In addition to the software from our partnership, Our equity holding in Caliente contributed around 30 million euros to adjusted EBITDA from investment income and delivered dividends of 37 million euros to our free cash flow while we have also continued to see very strong growth in our software field demonstrating the multiple avenues through which Playtech benefits from Caliente's success. The 2026 FIFA World Cup provided a meaningful tailwind to the online gambling market in Mexico. Co-hosted on local viewing times, the audience figures more than doubled compared to the 2022 World Cup. The tournament further enhanced Caliente's brand visibility, driving successful new customer acquisition, a key driver of future growth. The combination of Mexico's attractive market dynamics, Caliente's market-leading position, and the enduring benefits of the engagement during the World Cup provides an exciting opportunity for Caliente and Playtech going forward. Turning to the next slide and our progress in the US and Canada. The US, as we indicated before, is the key growth engine for Playtech. In H1, we achieved further significant milestones. US and Canada revenue increased by 176% year-on-year, and importantly, the business achieved profitability, reflecting growing scale, strong customer demand, and the increasing returns from investments made over recent years. Starting with operational expansion. During the period, we further strengthened our market presence to six regulated high-gaining states, following our launch in Connecticut. Demand from Tier 1 operators remains very strong, particularly across live, where U.S. revenue increased by around 25% erroneous. We also continue to expand capacity across our three U.S. studios, with more than 60 tables now in operation. Alongside this, we continue to invest in our customers through a number of new customers and product launches, including Fanatics across multiple states, FanDuel in West Virginia, and Bet365 in Michigan. We also successfully launched our iPoker platform with FanDuel across several markets. Product innovation continues to be a key differentiator for Playtech. During the half, we saw the ongoing success of our past motor racing games with Hard Rock Bet in Florida, while further expanding our portfolio of bespoke and branded content through other partnerships with leading brands. Playtech Content is now live with 15 operators, spanning more than 50 brands across the U.S. market. Our PAM Plus platform also continues to strengthen its leadership position as the number one third-party iGaming platform in the U.S. Customers such as Parks, Casino, and Ember Entertainment continue to deliver strong results powered by our platform technology. The progress achieved in H1 further strengthens our conviction in the U.S. opportunity. Despite the strong momentum delivered today, we believe Playtech is just at the beginning of an exciting long-term growth journey as the market continues to expand and evolve. Turning to the next slide. I want to highlight a key component of our U.S. growth story, our strategic partnership with Hard Rock Digital. Today, this partnership is stronger than ever. Hard Rock has expanded its footprint across key North American markets and today operates with us across New York, sorry, New Jersey, Michigan, Florida, and Ontario. Utilizing a broad range of Playtech products including Casino, Live Casino, Sports, and our Pump Plus platform. Over the last year, we have launched many unique products with Hard Rock, including our dual play tables and live trivia in New Jersey. The most impressive has been the successful rollout of the Games Powered by Pass Motor Racing offering in Florida, which is based on historical motor racing results. Our early investment in developing this innovative product meant that we were the first to market with Hard Rock, and this has been a key contributor to the exceptional growth delivered in the first half. In H2, the contribution from Hard Rock will trend toward a lower but more sustainable level as they introduce other third-party suppliers in Florida, as expected. However, we see further growth to come from that level. When we look back to 2023, Playtech invested $85 million in Hard Rock Digital, and the return on that investment has been very strong. As well as the software fees and dividends received, as of 30 June 2026, our stake has more than tripled in just three years, now valued at around 250 million euros. This success is the result of years of strategic execution, and I'm proud to say that we are now benefiting from all of our hard work. The partnership with Hard Rock demonstrates the full value of Playtex partnership model, strategic investment, proprietary technology, and product innovation, combining to accelerate growth while creating value through both commercial revenues and our investment exposure. As Hard Rock Digital continues to expand, we remain excited about the opportunities to support its future growth and participate in its ongoing success. Life continues to be a high-growth, high-margin vertical, and one where Platek continues to gain share. With a global live market projected to nearly double over the next five years, we remain exceptionally well positioned in key markets such as the US, Mexico and Brazil, where growth is forecasted to be particularly strong. Our internal data shows that live casino players generate nearly two times more revenue than traditional casino players, making live a highly attractive cross-sell opportunity. During the half, we continue to scale our live operations to meet rising demand. While our change in leadership last year has come with an increased focus on profitability, our priority remains on driving growth. Live delivered 12% growth in regulated markets. while also improving margins significantly, which reflects improved utilization based on table optimization measures and narrowing losses in the US. At the end of June, we were operating 480 tables across 20 live studios globally, which includes venues with our live dual table activity. Innovation remains central to our live strategy, So in July, we were excited to launch our live virtual host with several customers. This product enhances the live gaming experience with an AI interface, the virtual host, that guides players through the game, delivering real-time commentary while integrating seamlessly into the live studio environment. The virtual host is customizable by market and brand, further enhancing a localized and bespoke offering and deeper player engagement at scale. Early customer feedback has been very encouraging. Our ability to develop bespoke live casino content and localized experiences for specific markets is a key differentiator for Playtex. Our Sao Paulo studio further enhances these capabilities in Brazil, where we are seeing encouraging early success from locally tailored content. Through a combination of structural growth in regulated markets, continued investment in innovation, and growing operational leverage, Playtech is well positioned to drive sustainable, profitable growth in life while continuing to gain share across key regulated markets. On to the final slide. As you've heard today, H1 2026 has been an exceptionally strong period for Playtech. We delivered a step change in profitability and free cash flow as the result of our execution under our evolved business model, as well as strong contribution from our investment portfolio. We achieved excellent performance in the US, which sets the base for strong momentum going forward, alongside attractive growth opportunities across Latin America and other key regulated markets. Our strong balance sheet gives us the flexibility to invest in high growth opportunities and to return further capital to shareholders. At the same time, we remain focused on driving efficiencies and addressing areas of underperformance. Today, Playtech is a highly focused B2B technology business with leading capabilities across content, platform, services, and data. Combined with our portfolio of strategic assets, this provides a strong foundation for sustainable long-term growth and value creation. and finally, we continue to make rapid progress toward the top end of our medium term financial targets. Given the moving parts which we explained in our July trading update, we maintain our full year 2026 guidance of more than 270 million euros of adjusted EBITDA. We enter the second half of 2026 with confidence Thank you for listening. Chris and I will now be more than happy to take your questions. That was quick, Ivo.