Greek Organistn Football

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gailie, your course call operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the OPAP-SA conference call and live webcast question and answer session to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results. Please note a video presentation has been distributed and is also available on the OPAP Investor Relations website. All participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jan Karas, CEO of Opapese. Mr. Karas, you may now proceed.

Thank you very much. Good evening or good morning to everyone and welcome to our regular full year 2023 results conference call. I'm excited with the set of results announced delivering in Q4 2023 record high quarterly GGR and achieving a full year GGR record surpassing the $2 billion threshold for the first time. On top of that, we concluded the year with full-year recurring EBITDA that exceeded our latest outlook, landing at €745 million. 2023 was a year of change for OPAP in which a broad set of enhancements and improvements in our customer propositions were implemented, while we leveraged new digital technologies to upgrade the overall customer experience, both in retail and online, and proceeded with transformation of our traditional games to make them more relevant to the latest trends in gaming. New Joker, new Lotto, launch of hopuponline.gr, new platform for both retail and online Pame Stichema are just some indicative examples. We are also glad to announce a generous shareholders remuneration of 85 cents that comes on top of that one euro already distributed as interim dividend in November 2023. We anticipate 2024 to be another year of solid financial and operational performance benefited by OPAP's unique proposition and strategy. Hopefully, you have reviewed and enjoyed the results recorded video we shared with you earlier today, so we will jump directly to our Q&A session. Gili, over to you.

Thank you, Mr. Gadas. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, then you may press star and two. Please use your handset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question is from the line of with your bank equities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hello, Darren. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Could I start with a question, an operational one, regarding online, and particularly regarding the performance of Opap Digital excluding StickyMan? I'm just wondering, momentum does not seem to be to have been as strong as maybe one could have anticipated this year. And certainly it has been more tepid, if you like, relative to Stigman. So if you could comment on that and why this has been the case. and the areas you think could maybe drive the performance and improve the momentum in 2024, maybe online keynote, for example. So that's the first question. Secondly, on VLTs, VLTs actually just on the cost side, I noticed that the agent commissions seem to have ticked a bit higher as percent of the revenues. Could you tell us why this was the case? Does it have to do with a mix of machines. And lastly, on the shareholder remuneration policy, you talked about maximizing returns for shareholders, and indeed this is what you've been doing with the 185 return in 2023. Could you maybe tell us how we should think about cash returns in 2024? You are saying that the bulk of net profit will be distributed as dividend. But given free cash flow is likely to exceed net profit, is there a scope for you to pay a dividend in excess of net profits? Yeah, that's pretty much it. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your questions. We'll start from the first one. So in terms of OPAP online performance, it's a slightly different story vertical by vertical. We, starting with the opaponline.gr, we have achieved a year-over-year growth of 40% that we certainly consider significant. as a very healthy development and evolution. The whole opaponline.gr proposition is in its really early stage. Last year was about adding new games into the portfolio. This year we have a lot of additional enhancements to the customer proposition in our sleeves and we are expecting that this year we will be focusing more on growing the penetration, the base, as well as growing the ARPU of the existing customers. So, I cannot share with you now what is that we will be doing, but rest assured that we are far from concluding on this exercise. On the contrary, we want to be building what we call online entertainment destination. And I think we have a pretty attractive cocktail there, because a sense of our business is giving people a chance to fulfill their dreams, and that's always the key reason why they will be coming and playing. But gaming in online is about so much more than that. So a lot of social networks, familiar features, gamification, loyalties, programs, discussion forums, and more entertainment is what we will be adding to the cocktail. So there is more to come. and we expect that very healthy double digit growth to continue. When it comes to casino, the evolution of our vertical has certainly been at least at market trends, if not above, so we like the casino performance. On sports betting, as we have communicated, we have changed the sports betting platform itself, which was very important for one of the essential elements of sports betting, and that is stability and equality of the core. We still believe that we have a space for improvement on the proposition itself to be competitive with the top tier players and we certainly continue on that journey. So again here a lot is coming especially now before the Euro to spice up this proposition and hopefully we will see a much bigger growth in both active base as well as in revenues from this vertical in the foreseeable future. So that's only online. In terms of the VLTs, could you please repeat the question because I was not sure if you are referring to revenue shares for our VLT vendors or revenue shares for the retail network?

Yeah, it's actually with regards to the network, the agents effectively. If I've done the math correctly, the commissions of percentage of revenues have increased a bit. I think there is a different structure, right? If machines are in your betting outlets or if they are in gaining hold, if you could just shed some light as to why at the consolidated level, within this optic.

Thank you very much. That's a very good question. So when it comes to revenues or commissioning schemes, as we call it for the retail network, the agents, those who operate the gaming venues, we haven't made any major change in the commissioning scheme there. However, commissioning scheme is not fixed percentage from the GGR. It's much more complex. There are a set of subsidies. There are different bonus schemes reflecting size of the revenues generated by the specific gaming halls, etc. So it's a variable commissioning scheme that is reflecting the performance and several other commercial factors. As such, we always take care of the healthy P&L of the network, and we are paying a lot of attention to the sustainability of the network, which was a big topic for us throughout COVID, but obviously something that we keep an eye even now. So that might be an explanation for some of the year-over-year differences that you are seeing, but there is no major change in the commissioning scheme.

And the third question, I'll hand over to Pavel. Good afternoon from me. So we remain committed to our spending dividend policy, that is to distribute the maximum 100% of the net profits with a minimum of one euro dividend per share. Additionally, we may consider any further special dividend distributions. And of course we are now complementing this dividend policy with the share buyback which we started in September last year, where we really use any additional surplus cash after maximum dividend was paid. So that remains in place, dividend and share buyback with no change.

I'm so sorry, I kind of lost you, so could you just repeat the question? I'm sorry for the rest of the audience, my line got cut off, sorry about that. I just lost you when you started to respond, sorry.

Okay, so what I said that we are committed to our dividend distribution policy to distribute 100% of our net profits with a minimum of one euro dividend per share. We may complement it in future with any special dividend distribution like we did in the past and like we have a good track record. And we are complementing this dividend policy with additional share buyback, which we started in September last year. But we only use any additional surplus cash after maximum dividend has been paid. So we want to continue to pay maximum share of this returns also going forward.

Okay, got it, got it. Thank you so much. Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Bolton Russell with Edison Group. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, all. A couple of questions. Just going back to the previous question, you said that casino market share has gone up in the online world. Could you just give a view of what's happened in the sports setting? Have you increased market share and you referenced – that there will be some improvements to drive that business forward. Could you just talk about what those improvements are? Is it the odds? Is it the platform itself? My second question is on marketing. Now, if you look back over the last three years, relative to revenue, it's been a pretty consistent percentage, which is, I would say, pretty good given online, which is more competitive, has increased in the mix. So, Could you just talk about the trends for that going forward, especially in light of essentially you're guiding to a flat margin year on year? And my third question is just on instance and facets, which had a challenging fourth quarter and followed a weak Q3. Now, apologies, I've got about halfway through your presentation so far, so if you've addressed it there, I apologize. It would just be good to get a feel for why you think instance and facets will improve in 2024. Thank you.

So, starting with the sports betting, where we are and what we are improving. If you're a bit familiar with sports betting, you will probably understand that there is no golden egg to be fixed to become successful in sports betting. It's a rather complex agenda and you need to do many things right to meet and exceed the customer expectations. So starting from the end of your question, the platform, as I said, we now, after the change last year, have a very solid base to build on with our partner OpenBed. But it's not only about the platform, that's an important base, it's about what you build on that and very importantly also how you enhance your front ends and overall support and operations of the game. So the key areas where we are aiming for improvement meticulously following the customer research we are doing to understand where our gaps are, is across all the, starting from the basic layer of reliability, speed, cash in, cash out, functionality, registration process, etc., Going on to the next level of loyalty schemes where we will be launching a very competitive one very soon, taking care of your VIPs, your call center services. and how much attention you pay to taking care of any problems along the way. You mentioned odds very correctly. Having competitive odds is always very high on our agenda and always agenda that you need to continuously follow. So there is no specific thing that I would say we will change next month and things will dramatically change in terms of performance. It is really about that continuous improvement across many fronts that we are aiming for. But in a nutshell, the proposition that you will see or customers will be able to enjoy during Euro, I believe will put us in a really good place in terms of competitiveness on Greek market. Yeah, but handing over to Pavel, if I covered you, I don't know if you are there.

Yeah, I don't... Sorry, could you just clarify, was market share online, was that positive in the year, or did you lose share, or was it stable?

We have been, in terms of sports betting, we have been likely losing market share, but overall we didn't. I mean across the non-competitive world. And very importantly, on the group level, which is our dual brand strategy that we follow, we continue to keep a strong market share of 50% plus. Okay, thank you.

Now, on your marketing question, There are some trends. We are always trying to have prudent management, of course, across all categories, including marketing. Obviously, we need to continue to invest into our business. We just launched Eurojackpot, so naturally you can expect that it's a new important vertical which is trying to address also non-players. So we will continue. This is a new thing on Eurojackpot. Also, we have Euro in 2024 ahead of us. We have a competitive world in the online where obviously we have to react to the competition and also there are certainly inflationary pressures and also really all the assets in terms of sponsorship, there is also high inflation there. So across all these fronts, There is sort of upward trend, but you shouldn't expect anything dramatic, and we are always trying to be prudent and diligent. And the third question on instant and passive. Can you please just repeat that? Would you be so kind?

I'm sorry. I think I'll say it. Bit of bad luck on the line. My third question was with respect to the INSSAT. And again, I apologize. I'm halfway through watching the video for your presentation. So if I've missed something, I do apologize. Could you talk about why you think instance and passives will improve in 2024, you know, the initiatives you're doing? Thank you.

So scratch and passives is certainly a category where we continue to see an opportunity to increase penetration in the market, innovate the product, innovate the way we present it in the point of sale. So there is quite a plethora of activities that we will be doing. But just highlighting some of the key ones. It's a complete refresh of the way we present scratch product in OPAP stores. So even now if you come to OPAP store, you will see Eurojackpot communication all over the place. But the counter where the spontaneous purchase happens is fully dedicated to scratch. And that's just the beginning. We will be doing much more with scratch in OPAP stores to really strengthen its presence and stimulate the spontaneous purchase. Likewise, in the indirect networks, we are increasing the presence, so you may see in many markets and tobacco shops, increased presence of scratch visibility, again, for the same reason. Last but not least, the portfolio, we see opportunity in further growing the families of scratch, where there is a lot of synergy between similar products that are for a specific target group. And Cherry on the cake and essential new element of our strategy is the gifting proposition, where scratch is being established as something that people use as a gift on different occasions, not only on Christmas, but Christmas would be the main period of time. So that's in a nutshell about scratch. Passives is a slightly different story and that's a product that is really making us happy. We have done an innovation of the product last year, a refreshment of the product in terms of the winning structure logic. but equally we are paying attention to the general positioning and evolution of the product. So you will see modernized design, refreshed communication, so that we make the product, rather traditional product, more relevant to the new generation customers, also with different special editions, etc. So that's hopefully giving you an answer to your question. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

The next question is from the line of Nekrashov Maxim with Citi. Please go ahead.

Ah, yes, hello. Thanks a lot for taking my question, and congratulations with good results. I have actually a couple of questions on guidance. So the first one is regarding your top line. And your top line guidance, 3-5% seems to be ahead of GDP and private consumption expectations next year. So I was wondering what segments and products specifically do you expect to drive that growth and also what are your offline versus online growth assumptions? The second question is regarding margins. So your EBITDA guidance of 750, 770 implies a bit lower growth versus top line if we compare it to your recurring EBITDA of 745 in 2023. So, does it mean that you expect to see also additional investments into growth initiatives that could affect margins in 2024?

Thank you for your question. So in terms of where the growth comes from, the primary growth driver is obviously online with our dual brand strategy. That's where we see a lot of opportunities. But also in retail, we see it not only sustainable, but even in retail, we see an opportunity for single digit low to mid products high numbers or percentage growth so that's where primarily vlts are expected to continue to shine and over and beyond that it's not any specific vertical but rather the nurturing and evolving the entertainment notion of retail experience where the element of affordable entertainment seems to be something that is resonating really well with our customers and that's what we want to play with. Giving people this everyday disconnection from the everyday worries and problems and letting them enjoy the experience in pub stores for affordable money. On the second question, Pavel wants to share.

Okay, well, when you look at our reported EBITDA, obviously our EBITDA growth and the range which we provided is pretty much in line with the GGR guidance. True, when you take into consideration the recurring EBITDA, it's coming to a bit lower percentage to which you referred to, but basically we plan to remain We plan to remain at the same margin so the margin which we saw for the full year 2023 we expect to have similar level of mid-30s margin in 2024. But obviously we are continuing to invest into growing our business so that's definitely something what we do. We can see and we are planning some increase in sponsorship and CSR activities We will grow in the marketing expenses as I mentioned, Euro, jackpot Euro and some other. There are also persistent inflationary pressures across all the categories but overall we believe we provided a conservative margin and basically obviously last year we came with a guidance And because of very volatile payout in sports betting, we were revising it in our Q3 call. Finally, Q4 ended up well, but we prefer to give a bit on a conservative level and really stick to that guidance throughout the year.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Matavras Paris with Paterlak Securities. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. Actually, a couple of questions, if I may. The first refers to the suspension of operations for the domestic horse racetrack. I understand this was a loss-making activity for you, so the fact that you suspended this activity Other things being equal should benefit your profitability. Could you give a bit more color on the size of these benefits? And the second question refers to the latest trading updates. If you could give us some color on what's happening in the first couple of months of the year, whether we are seeing any volatility in sports book payouts. Thank you very much.

Thank you. So horse racing, look, over the years we have taken the best effort for the revival and good development of the horse racing activity and we did major investment there but ultimately there was dramatic decline in the number of registered horses and basically that led us to the decision to terminate the lease of the horse racing facility and we stopped organizing the horse races all in line with the concession agreement. Although we invested in the past and we tried, I must say in the last year we tried to optimize the level of investment so you should not expect any dramatic improvement of the profitability. It was a very low single-digit loss, which we discontinued, so it will not be a major boost to the P&L. And what I just remind, we continue to have the concession agreement in place, and what we offer to our players is the foreign races, so that one we continue to do, and this one is marginally positive.

Now on your second question as to how is it going so far, all I can share with you at this stage is that so far it's meeting our expectations and we are evolving towards the provided guidance, so it's going well. We are obviously these days extremely excited about our new baby, the Eurojackpot, that I'm sure you will be pleased to hear that we have, after many months of preparation, successfully launched without any problems, and even here so far, the results are meeting our expectations. And when I'm referring to results, I'm not referring primarily to the financial ones, even though they are also on expectations, but to much more than that. Excitement of our agents, the retail network, the commitment we see there, early reactions of customers, the campaign being positively received. So all of the key KPIs, let's say not only the financial ones, but also non-financial ones are on a On a good track, so I'm looking forward to share with you more in our next quarterly call.

That's very clear. Thank you very much. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone. We have another question from Derezo Samatis with Zero Bank Equities. Please go ahead. Mr. Derezo, can you hear us?

Apologies, I was on mute. Sorry, sorry. Hello again. Sorry. I was just wondering, do you have any anecdotal data or, you know, maybe data that... you've discussed with the relevant commission regarding the legal market. Are they relevant authorities? Are they continuing their efforts to curb illegal gambling? Any granularity you could provide would be very helpful. Thank you.

Thank you for your question. We have, we have a number of numbers and your question You may have noticed that there was an indicative number provided around 2 billion euro turnover being the size of the illegal market. That is obviously something that concerns us as with our responsible approach we prefer our customers to enjoy the games in a very different way than in illegal venues. As we stated many times before, an important part of our ESG strategy is active cooperation with the state authorities to fight illegal betting and our activities on this front never stop. But we need to remind ourselves that it's the state authorities call and their action to fight against illegal betting. So I don't want to comment on their initiatives and their success, but it's an initiative that keeps continuing, Chris, assured. Thanks very much. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for the question.

The next question is from the line of Burikaran with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Just a quick one from my side, please. The guidance that we've given for GGR, well, 3% to 5%, does it already reflect your expectation of revenue contribution from the Euro jackpot? product, just to get a better understanding of that, please?

Yes, it does. Yes. Yes.

Thank you so much.

Once again, to register for a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone. As a final reminder, to register for a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Karas for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Kelly. And thank you very much to all of you for being with us today and for your questions. Our IR team will be looking forward to answer any other questions you may have and deep dive into your inquiries offline. So we will be looking forward to talk to you again in a couple of months upon the Q1 2024 results announcement, where we will have further updates from our Eurojackpot launch, among others. Thank you very much for being with us today and have a nice rest of the day. Bye.

Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Mr. Karas. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling and have a good afternoon.