Strategy delivering fourth consecutive quarter of growth and significantly improved profitability with Adjusted EBITDA +44% and LTM Adjusted EBITDA of £363m
evoke (LSE: EVOK), one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, today announces its interim results for the six-months ended 30 June 2025 (“H1-25”).
· Increasingly efficient operating model has driven a fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth and significantly improved profitability
· Group Revenue of £888m, up 3% (+4% CC) year-over-year
§ UK&I Online revenue down 1% due to lapping the Euros and evolved marketing approach, albeit with profitability significantly enhanced, leading to Adjusted EBITDA +37% to £60m
§ International revenue up 13% (+15% CC) driven by very strong growth across core markets, and Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to £86m
§ Retail revenue down 2% but returned to growth in Q2 following the successful rollout of 5,000 new gaming cabinets
· Adjusted EBITDA up 44% to £166m, bringing LTM Adjusted EBITDA to £363m, with significant improvement driven by higher gross margins, more effective marketing returns (revenue higher on lower marketing) and operational efficiency from cost savings
· Reported EBITDA of £141m more than trebled year-over-year driven by a significant reduction in exceptional items, primarily relating to the US B2C exit and higher transformation costs in the prior year
· Significant progress in deleveraging, with 1.7x reduction year-over-year to 5.0x at 30 June 2025. Cash (excluding customer balances) at 30 June 2025 of £121m, with ample total liquidity of £250m including undrawn RCF of £129m
· Continued execution against strategy focused on delivering mid- and long-term profitable growth and value creation by investing in core capabilities and transforming the business, underpinned by a clear Customer Value Proposition (CVP) and the following distinct competitive advantages:
o Operational excellence driven by data insights and intelligent automation: continued to scale the use of AI and intelligent automation across Group functions, enhancing execution and efficiency. Marketing effectiveness improved through advanced customer segmentation, and data-driven Customer Lifecycle Management (CLCM), delivering stronger returns on investment. These initiatives are supported by a world-class team across data, automation and AI, further strengthening our operational capabilities, and have led to successful cost reductions as well as driving an 11% year-over-year increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in H1 2025.
o A winning culture: transformed structures and ways of working and continue to review the operating model to strengthen focus on customer experience and efficiency. The broader leadership team continues to evolve, with a focus on sharper execution, and more closely aligning remuneration to business performance.
o Leading distinct brands and products: further progress in embedding the Group-wide CVP principles. Launched William Hill’s new CVP centred on ‘betting done properly’, leveraging the heritage and strength of the brand with a clearer customer focus. The rollout of 5,000 new gaming machines has significantly enhanced the retail experience. Ongoing online product improvements include a simplified user experience, new free-to-play games, and the in-house launch of the Jackpot Drop feature. These initiatives are shifting marketing from promotions-led to product-led, boosting customer engagement and brand differentiation.
· Q3 revenue for the period to 10 August is in line with our plans and the FY 2025 revenue growth target remains in the range of 5-9%
· Momentum is accelerating into H2 2025, supported by strong revenue drivers including leading positions in core markets and an exciting pipeline of new product launches and brand enhancements
· Further improvements in profitability expected in H2 2025, primarily driven by enhanced operating leverage on the expected revenue growth. The Group continues to actively pursue additional operational efficiencies, including through the adoption of automation and AI across all functions
· The Group remains on track to deliver FY25 guidance of an Adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%, with unchanged medium-term targets of 5-9% annual revenue growth, approximately 100bps of Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion per year from 2025 onwards, and leverage below 3.5x by the end of 2027
“We are seeing clear evidence of the transformation and operational reset we’ve undertaken, with the Group delivering continued revenue growth, significantly improved profitability and meaningful deleveraging during the first half of the year. The improved financial performance is a result of substantial strategic progress, focusing resources on our core markets and executing a short-term turnaround, while investing in building stronger capabilities to support long-term sustainable and profitable growth.
Having delivered four consecutive quarters of growth, we are well positioned to drive continued progress, supported by our leading market positions, established brands, outstanding products, and a clear customer proposition.
The acceleration in Q2 performance, together with a strong pipeline of product enhancements and operational efficiency initiatives, underpins our confidence of improved growth in H2 and reiterated guidance of 5-9% revenue growth and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20% in 2025, as we continue to execute against our plans to create significant shareholder value.”
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and excluding share based payment charges, foreign exchange losses and exceptional items and other defined adjustments. Adjusted measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, are alternative performance measures (“APMs”). These APMs should be considered in addition to, and are not intended to be a substitute for, IFRS measurements. As they are not defined by International Financial Reporting Standards, they may not be directly comparable with other companies’ APMs. The Directors believe these APMs provide additional useful information for understanding performance of the Group. They are used to enhance the comparability of information between reporting periods and are used by management for performance analysis and planning. An explanation of our adjusted results, including a reconciliation to the statutory results is provided in the CFO report.
Growth on a constant currency basis is calculated by translating both current and prior year performance at the 2025 exchange rates
evoke plc (and together with its subsidiaries, “evoke” or the “Group”) is one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies. The Group owns and operates internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888, and Mr Green. Incorporated in Gibraltar, and headquartered and listed in London, the Group operates from offices around the world.
The Group’s vision is to make life more interesting and its mission is to delight players with world-class betting and gaming experiences.
This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions, with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of evoke. These statements, which contain the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “seek”, “continue”, “aim”, “target”, “projected”, “plan”, “goal”, “achieve”, words of similar meaning or other forward looking statements, reflect evoke’s beliefs and expectations and are based on numerous assumptions regarding evoke’s present and future business strategies and the environment evoke will operate in and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. No representation is made that any of these statements or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of evoke to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond evoke’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of regulators and other factors such as evoke’s ability to continue to obtain financing to meet its liquidity needs, changes in the political, social and regulatory framework in which evoke operates or in economic or technological trends or conditions. Past performance of evoke cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The list above is not exhaustive and there are other factors that may cause evoke’s actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. Forward-looking statements speak only as of their date and evoke, its respective parent and subsidiary undertakings, the subsidiary undertakings of such parent undertakings, and any of such person’s respective directors, officers, employees, agents, affiliates or advisers expressly disclaim any obligation to supplement, amend, update or revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under applicable law. No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this announcement should be interpreted to mean that the financial performance of evoke for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published for evoke.
H1 2025 was a period of highly profitable growth and further deleveraging, as we continued to execute our clear Value Creation Plan (“VCP”) and strategic priorities.
Following the return to growth in the second half of 2024, we were pleased to continue this momentum through Q1 and Q2 2025, delivering our fourth consecutive quarter of year over year revenue growth at the end of the period. This momentum was driven by very strong performances across the Group’s international core markets supported by an encouraging return to growth in UK Retail in Q2.
While focusing on sustainable top-line growth, we have also significantly improved the Group’s profitability. This has been achieved through direct actions such as the transformative changes we are making to our operating model delivering cost reductions, alongside improved operating leverage from revenue growth and more effective and efficient use of bonusing, and our evolved approach to marketing – all contributing to improved margins. As a result, H1 Adjusted EBITDA was up by a strong 44% against the prior year to £166m, demonstrating a real step change in evoke’s profitability and supporting our strong deleveraging trajectory.
Alongside our improved trading performance in H1, we continued to transform and strengthen the Group’s mid-and long-term capabilities. We are sharpening our competitive advantages and aligning our leading brands and products more clearly to a compelling customer value proposition. Our disciplined strategy – with a clear focus on our five core markets as well as on continuously driving operational excellence – is working and delivering positive results. That said, as a team we know there is much more we need to deliver as we enter H2, and we remain laser-focused on execution as we strive to realise our exciting potential and create significant value.
Our VCP is designed to deliver high returns on equity from sustainable profitable growth, built around three core principles that define ‘what’ we will do:
The strategy to deliver this, the ‘how’, is centred on strengthening the Group’s core capabilities and competitive advantages to create a scalable platform for profitable growth while being laser focused on our customer value proposition. This comprises three key components:
This is supported by six key strategic initiatives (SIs) to serve as the roadmap for executing against our strategy. The executive leadership team is directly accountable for driving progress against each of these SIs, ensuring that they result in a step-change in evoke’s capabilities to create a more sustainable, profitable and cash generative business in the future.
In terms of ‘where’ we will create value, we remain laser focused on our five core markets – the UK, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Denmark – which together accounted for almost 90% of our H1 2025 revenue. These markets each offer attractive long-term growth potential, high barriers to entry, and established regulatory frameworks. We will continue to use our local expertise and diverse brand portfolio to grow market share in these markets, targeting podium positions and driving sustainable, profitable growth.
We are delivering both a short-term turnaround in trading, while simultaneously investing in building capabilities to drive long-term growth. This balance between these priorities requires laser focus on execution, and we made strong progress across all areas in H1 2025 as we deliver against our value creation plan:
1. Drive profitable and sustainable revenue growth
H1 revenue increased 3% on a reported basis and 4% in constant currency. While Q1 growth was slightly behind our initial expectations, we were pleased to see momentum build in Q2, with year-on-year growth of 5% supported by strong performances in our international core markets and a return to growth in retail.
UK&I Online
In UK&I Online Revenue was -1% in the first half, and while this was behind our original plans, our focus remains firmly on profitable growth rather than growth at any cost. I am encouraged by the progress we have made in transforming the business and delivering a step change in profitability, with UK&I Online EBITDA up 37% to £60m. This reflects improved marketing efficiency, a sharper focus on customer value over volume, and the impact of structural cost reductions. Our Customer Lifecycle Management (CLCM) SI has delivered some exciting initial benefits from personalised marketing and improved data-driven segmentation. This is an area we will continue to focus on, with further improvements to come in the second half as we further improve our real time data capabilities.
Within the division we continue to see differing trends by brand, with William Hill showing good momentum, particularly in gaming. We launched the new William Hill Customer Value Proposition (‘CVP’) in the first half and this – alongside progress made with our product and technology foundations SI – has delivered a step-change in our product. We delivered significant upgrades across sports and gaming, with major UX improvements including new pages for football and horse racing, pre-built popular accumulators, a refreshed Vegas app, and ahead of the new football season we have recently launched exciting new features such as Jackpot Drop and our free-to-play game Final One Standing.
888’s UK&I revenue was down as we evolved our marketing approach and stepped back from unprofitable marketing activity. However, we are seeing encouraging contribution growth and have a refreshed marketing team now focused on improved returns. The brand is on its own transformation path, with a new separate management team to increase dedicated focus, and its own refreshed customer value proposition due later this year.
The first half was a strong period for our International division, with revenue in our core markets up 22% on a constant currency basis. Growth was broad-based across all territories, and importantly, it was profitable, as contribution grew strongly and, combined with structural cost efficiencies, helped more than double EBITDA for the division.
In Italy, 888casino continues to outperform both local and omni-channel competitors, supported by new supplier integrations and the roll-out of our proprietary Section8 content. While sports revenue was impacted by the William Hill migration to the Exalogic platform, we are actively addressing the temporary disruption and remain confident in our long-term positioning. In Spain, growth remains solid, led by gaming, although we saw some modest share loss due to a weaker sports proposition. Romania delivered exceptional growth, both organically and through the acquisition of Winner, with the 888 brand being managed by the local Winner team and migrated to the Winner platform. In Denmark, Mr Green is performing well post-migration to our in-house platform during Q1, with Q2 revenue up 26%, aided by newly launched features such as the localised Danish version of our free-to-play daily prize wheel.
Retail
The first half marked a significant milestone for our Retail business as we completed the rollout of 5,000 new gaming machines across the estate, which helped return Retail to growth in the second quarter, with overall revenue for the first half down 2%. I am pleased to report the new gaming machines are performing in line with expectations, with gross win per machine per week now approximately 15% higher than our previous cabinets, an encouraging trend that should support continued growth into the second half.
While we have made strong progress in gaming, we acknowledge that our sports performance has lagged slightly. This is primarily due to historical underinvestment in our self-service betting terminals (SSBTs), where the user experience has not kept pace with market standards. In H2, we are investing to address this through terminal upgrades, improved UX, and increased SSBT density in key locations. Combined with enhancements in pricing, promotions, and in-store experience, we believe this will strengthen our competitive position.
Retail EBITDA was down 22% in H1 driven by a combination of product mix effects – particularly higher machine-related duty – as well as broader inflationary pressures such as National Insurance and National Living Wage increases effective since April 2025. Reflecting the cost inflation pressures, we closed a small number of loss-making shops in March. With a more efficient base and improved top-line momentum, we remain confident in Retail’s ability to drive sustainable growth.
2. Improve profitability and efficiency through operating leverage
I am delighted to say top-line growth is being delivered profitably, with a significant improvement in contribution year-over-year driven by more effective marketing including use of bonuses, as well as structural cost benefits from bringing more of the business onto the in-house platform, as well as the cost optimisation programmes we’ve undertaken. Overall Adjusted EBITDA for H1 was +44% year-over-year to £166m, reflecting decisive and bold changes we have made to the business over the past 12 to 18 months as well as strong operating leverage.
Our SIs have been strengthening our overall capabilities at efficient cost, with the Operations 2.0 SI accelerating investments in automation and artificial intelligence across all group functions. During the first half we automated further elements of our customer journeys including player safety, fraud detection, withdrawals, and account reviews, improving the level of customer service we provide and seeking to reduce friction and manual intervention wherever we can. We also continue to further embed AI across the business and see this as a key enabler for ongoing cost optimisation and to drive further margin expansion as we become more efficient.
We continue to integrate our product and platform capabilities to increase scale benefits and drive further margin expansion, with all Mr Green markets successfully migrated on to the 888 platform by Q1 2025, driving cost savings and improved product capabilities.
We are continuing to assess our cost base, and at our FY24 results in March 2025 we identified a further £15-25m in cost efficiencies to be delivered during 2025. As part of our Operations 2.0 and Winning Organisation SIs, we are continuously actively exploring additional opportunities to streamline operations and improve efficiency, including accelerating the use of automation and AI across all Group functions.
3. Deleverage through disciplined capital allocation
H1 Adjusted EBITDA of £166m brings last twelve months Adjusted EBITDA to £363m, which alongside disciplined capital allocation has delivered a material reduction in leverage of 1.7x over the past 12 months to 5.0x at June 2025. While net debt was broadly stable, we are balancing reinvestment to drive growth, but as that growth comes through we remain confident in our ability to drive strong future cash generation and hit our FY27 target of less than 3.5x leverage.
We continued to expand our brand licensing revenue stream in the first half, with Mr Green returning to the UK market operated by Playtech, and in July we announced 888’s return to the Netherlands through a partnership with ComeOn Group. These partnerships align with our wider M&A strategy to focus on low-capital, high-impact routes to value creation and we are excited to explore further opportunities to leverage our brand profile without the significant capital commitment of launching in a new market organically.
We continued to invest behind the 888AFRICA joint venture in the year, which continues to perform well as it looks to build leading positions in selected regulated African markets. We are excited by the potential of this joint venture and we look forward to expanding on its success in the future.
The Group’s profitable growth in H1 further demonstrates that the transformation and reset we have undertaken over the past 12 to 18 months is working. The business is continuing its growth trajectory while significantly improving profitability. Alongside improving short-term trading trends, we have been investing in our strategy, focusing resources on our targeted core markets and strengthening long-term competitive advantages.
We remain fully focused on executing our plans and building on our fundamental strengths, including very strong brands and leading positions in large, attractive, and well-regulated markets. We have accelerated momentum and a strong pipeline of new product enhancements and operational excellence initiatives as we enter the second half of the year. Together, these underpin our confidence in our full-year guidance of 5-9% revenue growth and an EBITDA margin of at least 20% in 2025, supporting continued deleveraging.
I am pleased to report a strong set of results for the first half of the year, delivering against the strategic and financial priorities we set out. This performance reflects our clear focus on driving profitable growth, improving operational efficiency, and reducing leverage, laying the groundwork for sustainable long-term value creation.
Over the past 12 months, we have taken decisive steps to transform the business and I am pleased with the turnaround in short-term trading performance that is driving continued growth, and the early benefits of some of the improved mid and long-term capabilities we are investing in, but there is more to do to unlock the full potential of the business.
In H1, we delivered our fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth, with the positive momentum into Q2 (5% growth) giving us confidence for the second half. More importantly, we achieved a step change in profitability with Adjusted EBITDA growing by 44% year-on-year to £166m, reflecting both favourable comparatives from a poor performance in the prior year, but also the impact of structural improvements across the business.
These improvements include better bonus optimisation, more efficient marketing spend, and an increasing shift of operations to our proprietary platform and in-house trading capabilities. These changes are not just tactical cost savings, they are foundational efficiencies that are improving our margin profile and gross profitability, meaning we can drive further operating leverage from our revenue growth.
Encouragingly, our marketing approach is more disciplined and effective than ever. We spent £12m less on marketing in the half yet grew revenue by 3%. We expect a more normal seasonal profile this year, with a slight step down in H2, but with better control over returns. Our cost base overall is £4m lower than last year, despite inflationary pressures, and we continue to pursue further structural savings.
We also made significant progress on deleveraging, with leverage down to 5.0x from 6.7x just a year ago and 5.7x at the end of 2024. This is a clear demonstration of the discipline embedded across the business as we execute our strategy and balance the investment in growth and capability build up versus driving a short-term turnaround in performance.
Looking ahead, the second half will present some additional cost headwinds-particularly from National Insurance, National Living Wage increases, and tax changes in Romania. However, we are proactively managing these through a combination of targeted efficiencies and continued top-line growth. We have already identified £5-10m of incremental cost savings to land in H2, and our enhanced remuneration approach is directly linked to business performance – ensuring a degree of self-correction if growth falls short of expectations.
Finally, while there are still areas for improvement, most notably on the sports side across divisions, we are making progress. The operating leverage opportunity from revenue growth in the second half is significant, and our Q2 improvement over Q1 is an early signal of what we can deliver. We are confident in the outlook for the rest of this year and our medium-term targets remain unchanged. Our strategy is working, and with our highly disciplined approach to capital allocation we will continue to focus on deleveraging to enhance the return on equity, driving strong shareholder returns in the coming years.
SUMMARY
H1 2025 Revenue of £887.8m was up 3.0% (H1 2024: £862.0m) year-over-year, primarily driven by International being up 13.0%, with Retail and UK&I Online down (2.4)% and (0.7)%, respectively.
Retail: Revenue declined 2.4% year-on-year but returned to growth in Q2 following the full rollout of 5,000 new gaming machines. These have driven a stronger gaming performance with Q2 +7% for gaming. Sports was negatively impacted by the strength of EURO 2024 in prior year sports revenues as well as market-wide factors and legacy product limitations.
UK&I Online: performance was in line with 2024 but behind our expectation, primarily as a result of sports declines driven by reduced staking volumes, predominantly in football with EURO 2024 included in prior year comparatives and the implementation of additional safer gambling measures. William Hill Vegas performed strongly and 888 declined at a revenue level but showed double-digit growth in contribution as a result of the evolving marketing approach and removal of unprofitable marketing.
Within International, Core Markets (Italy, Spain, Denmark, Romania) combined were up 20.5%, offset slightly by reduced revenue in Optimise Markets as the focus switches to profitability and cash generation, as well as the exit from the US B2C market.
Further segmental details and trends are discussed within the segmental section later in this statement.
Adjusted EBITDA for H1 2025 was £165.9m, up 43.6% year-over-year, driven by the increased revenues together with higher gross margin. The gross margin improvements were primarily driven by the closure of US B2C, platform migrations to in-house products, and bonus cost optimisation. Marketing was lower year-over-year primarily due to prior year front-loading of marketing, with a more balanced approach this year. Other operating expenses were down £4m with cost savings more than offsetting underlying inflation (including National Insurance and National Living Wage increases in the UK) and investment in strengthening our AI and Automation teams to support our long-term capabilities.
The Reported EBITDA uplift was driven by the factors outlined above together with a decrease in exceptional items and adjustments of £47.1m, with 2024 costs principally related to the exit of US B2C and integration and transformation.
The reported Loss after tax of £(64.7)m reflects the reported EBITDA as described above, together with the impact of non-cash accounting charges for purchase price amortisation as well as the finance costs related to the largely debt-funded acquisition of William Hill.
Reconciliation of Statutory EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted profit before tax and Adjusted profit after tax
** Statutory Operating expenses of £310.2m includes Operating expenses of £297.5m (being the Operating expenses of £399.7m less Depreciation and amortisation of £102.2m) and Exceptional items – operating expenses of £12.7m per the Consolidated Income Statement.
* EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
** Statutory Operating expenses of £310.2m includes Operating expenses of £297.5m (being the Operating expenses of £399.7m less Depreciation and amortisation of £102.2m) and Exceptional items – operating expenses of £12.7m per the Consolidated Income Statement
*** Depreciation and amortisation of £102.2m (H1 2024: £111.0m) has been separated from Operating expenses of £399.7m per the Consolidated Income Statement.
**** Foreign exchange within adjustments of £11.9m loss within Operating expenses and £17.3m loss within Finance income and expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding share-based payment charges, foreign exchange losses and exceptional items and other defined adjustments. Foreign exchange losses and share benefit charges were excluded to allow for further understanding of the underlying financial performance of the Group. Further detail on exceptional items and adjusted measures is provided in note 3 to condensed financial statements.
In the reporting of financial information, the Directors use various APMs. These APMs should be considered in addition to, and are not intended to be a substitute for, IFRS measurements. As they are not defined by International Financial Reporting Standards, they may not be directly comparable with other companies’ APMs. The Directors believe these APMs provide additional useful information for understanding performance of the Group. They are used to enhance the comparability of information between reporting periods and are used by management for performance analysis and planning. An explanation of our adjusted results to the statutory results is provided in note 3 to the condensed financial statements.
Revenue for the Group was £887.8m for H1 2025, an increase of 3.0% compared to H1 2024, primarily due to factors discussed above.
Revenue from sports betting was £293.0m, representing a 8.7% decline year-over-year. Stakes were down 11.7%, with an increase in betting net win margin from 12.3% to 12.7%. The reduction in staking volumes reflects stronger comparatives with Euro 2024 in the prior year, together with the introduction of additional safer gambling measures in UK online, and the impact from migrating both Italy and Denmark to new platforms in Q1, which resulted in a short-term impact from some feature gaps. Gaming revenue of £594.8m was up 10.0% year-over-year, driven by a strong performance in International core markets, and with retail gaming returning to growth.
Cost of sales
Cost of sales mainly comprise of gaming taxes and levies, royalties payable to third parties, chargebacks, payment service provider (“PSP”) commissions and costs related to operational risk management and customer due diligence services. Cost of sales decreased to £295.0m from £301.8m. The decrease in cost of sales as a percentage of revenue primarily reflects the exit of US B2C and associated market access fees, platform migration of Mr Green to the 888 platform reducing third-party revenue share, and bonus optimisation across online divisions which results in a lower effective tax rate.
Gross profit
Gross profit increased to £592.8m from £560.2m, alongside an increase in the gross margin from 65.0% to 66.8% driven by more efficient cost of sales as described above.
Marketing expenses
Marketing is a significant investment for our Group to drive growth through investing in our leading brands, as well as customer acquisition and retention activities. Significant marketing optimisation and shift in strategy for the Cheltenham Festival saw marketing spend decrease by 7.8% from £154.2m in H1 2024 to £142.1m. This represents a marketing to revenue ratio (marketing ratio) of 16.0% (H1 2024: 17.9%).
Operating expenses
Operating expenses mainly comprise of employment costs, property costs, technology services and maintenance, and legal and professional fees. Operating expenses decreased to £310.2m from £362.2m in H1 2024 due to a reduction in exceptional items, with the closure of US B2C and higher integration and transformation costs in the prior year.
EBITDA & Adjusted EBITDA
Reported EBITDA increased by 222.6% from £43.8m to £141.3m and includes £12.7m of exceptional costs primarily related to integration and transformation costs. On an adjusted basis, the increase was 43.5% from £115.5m to £165.9m, with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.7% compared to 13.4% in H1 2024 primarily driven by increased gross profit margin and reduced marketing spend, together with year-over-year revenue growth.
Finance Income and Expenses
Net finance expenses of £116.8m (H1 2024: £79.8m) related predominantly to the interest on borrowings, which is net of foreign exchange. The finance expense resulting from leases was £3.6m (H1 2024: £3.3m), increasing due to the addition of a significant number of new retail gaming machines. The finance expense from hedging activities was £8.8m (H1 2024: £4.1m) predominantly due to foreign exchange movements.
(Loss) / profit before tax
The net loss before tax for H1 2025 was £77.7m (H1 2024: net loss before tax of £147.0m). On an adjusted basis, the net profit before tax was £12.6m (H1 2024: net loss before tax of £9.8m), reflecting the increased Adjusted EBITDA as described above.
Taxation
The group recognised a tax credit of £13.0m on a loss before tax of £77.7m, giving an effective tax rate of 16.7%. This rate is lower than the expected UK statutory rate of 25% due to the lower effective tax rates applied in Gibraltar, Spain and Malta and the reduced availability of tax relief on costs incurred in the period, principally in respect of interest costs in the UK for which no deferred tax asset can be recognised.
On an adjusted basis the effective tax rate for the half year is 57.1%. This is mainly driven by a tax credit relating to deferred tax on movements in goodwill and other balances originally recognised as part of the William Hill acquisition in 2022, which do not form part of profit on ordinary activities.
Net (loss)/profit and adjusted net profit
The net loss for H1 2025 was £64.7m (H1 2024: net loss of £143.2m). On an adjusted basis, the net profit for H1 2025 increased to £5.4m from a loss after tax of £29.9m in H1 2024, reflecting the items discussed above.
Earnings per share
Basic loss per share decreased to (14.3p (H1 2024: loss per share of (31.9)p) due to increased profit across H1 2025.
On an adjusted basis, basic earnings per share was 1.2p (H1 2024: 6.7p loss). Further information on the reconciliation of earnings per share is given in note 4.
Dividends
The Board of Directors is not recommending a dividend to be paid in respect of the half year ended 30 June 2025 (H1 2024: nil per share). The Board’s decision is to suspend payments of dividends until leverage is at or below 3x, as previously announced following the acquisition of William Hill.
The below tables show the Group’s performance by segment:
Revenue decreased by 0.7% to £336.2m with a decrease in sports revenues, partly reflecting the EURO 2024 tournament in the prior year. Within the division there are differing trends by brand with William Hill in growth and 888 declining due to a more disciplined marketing approach, which led to a significant increase in contribution despite lower revenues. The Group has seen growth in gaming revenue of 4.4% driven by double digit growth in William Hill positively influenced by product improvements and more effective bonusing.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by £16.3m to £60.0m, primarily driven by improved gross margin, better marketing returns, and a reduction in other operating costs following the cost optimisation programmes. This focus on profitable growth is aligned to the Group’s strategy.
Retail
Retail revenue decreased by 2.4% to £252.2m and Adjusted EBITDA 22.1% to £29.6m driven by challenging conditions on the high street as well as decreased football staking with strong prior year comparatives including EURO 2024. A successful rollout of 5,000 gaming machines completed in March 2025 has helped to deliver gaming growth of 7% in Q2, growing market share. The retail business has a high proportion of fixed costs, meaning the overall revenue reduction creates negative operating leverage and drops to Adjusted EBITDA at a high rate.
There were 1,302 shops open at the end of H1 2025 compared to 1,331 at the end of H1 2024 representing a 2.2% reduction. This small reduction to the estate largely reflects the impact of inflationary cost increases making certain shops no longer commercially viable, and we continue to closely monitor ongoing shop profitability.
International
International revenue increased by 13.0% to £299.4m and Adjusted EBITDA increased by £44.9m compared to H1 2024, seeing double-digit growth in the core markets of Italy & Denmark, with Romania providing triple digit growth following the acquisition of Winner in H2 2024 (+28% excluding Winner). Together with Spain (6% growth YoY), the Group’s four core markets now represent approximately 71% of the division. This growth was offset slightly by reduced revenues from optimise markets on a reported basis (+1% in constant currency) as the focus switches to profitability and cash generation, including exiting the US B2C business.
Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 13.2 percentage points to 28.6% primarily due to bonus optimisation and marketing strategies driving contribution margin growth.
Corporate costs
Corporate costs were £9.2m in H1 2025 compared to £6.8m in H1 2024. The increase is due to most of the cost reductions landing in the divisions, meaning inflation and investment in capabilities to support the Group’s strategic initiatives added to corporate costs.
Operating exceptional items in the year totalled £12.7m in H1 2025 compared to £70.8m in H1 2024.
Exceptional items are defined as those items which are considered one-off or material in size or nature to be brought to attention to better understand the Group’s financial performance. Refer to Note 3 to the condensed financial statements for further detail.
The Group incurred a total of £12.4m of costs relating to the integration and transformation programme. This includes £8.9m of technology and platform integration costs, £1.6m of redundancy costs, £1.5m for optimisation and restructuring and £0.4m of relocation and HR related expenses. The initial transformation and integration programme is largely complete save for future platform integration costs. The Group expects that additional costs may be incurred in relation to further transformation plans tied to continued cost saving programmes as it builds out its AI and automation capabilities.
In H1 2024, there were a total of £29.8m of costs relating to the integration programme, including £10.6m of platform integration costs, £1.0m of legal and professional costs, £9.7m of redundancy costs, £3.6m of relocation and HR related expenses, £3.7m of employee incentives as part of the integration of William Hill and 888, £0.8m for corporate rebranding costs and £0.4m of technology integration costs.
The Group incurred £0.3m of corporate transaction costs during H1 2025. Following the conclusion of its partnership with Authentic Brands Group in the prior year, these costs incurred in H1 2025 relate to legal fees associated with the closure of the US B2C business.
In H1 2024, the Group incurred £41.0m of corporate transaction costs. As noted above, the Group decided to conclude its partnership with Authentic Brands Group in H1 24 and incurred £39.8m of fees in relation to the closure of the US B2C business. These costs included termination fees of £38.6m, £4.4m of employment costs, £1.0m of costs for onerous contracts and £0.5m of other M&A fees. The termination fees included total amounts payable of $50.0m, $25.5m of which was paid in H1 24, and the remaining $24.5m which will be paid between 2027 and 2029 and was discounted to its present value at H1 2024. These costs were offset by £4.7m of profit on sale of player databases. The remaining £1.2m related to smaller M&A activity.
Adjustments reflect items that are recurring, but which are excluded from internal measures of underlying performance to provide clear visibility of the underlying performance across the Group, principally due to their non-cash accounting nature. They are items that are therefore excluded from Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted PAT and Adjusted EPS.
The amortisation of the specific intangible assets recognised on acquisitions has been presented as an adjusted item, totaling £39.8m (H1 2024: £54.2m) relating to the William Hill acquisition. This amortisation is a recurring item that will be recognised over its useful life.
The other items that have been presented as adjusted items are foreign exchange losses of £29.2m (foreign exchange loss of £4.2m in H1 2024), amortisation of finance fees of £8.0m (£8.1m in H1 2024), and share based payments credits of £nil (£(0.1)m in H1 2024).
Non-current assets decreased by £39.6m to £2,198.4m compared to £2,238.0m at FY 2024, predominantly due to amortisation on the intangible assets and foreign exchange losses on USD balances.
Current assets are £398.5m, a decrease of £34.0m compared to £432.5m at FY 2024. Within this, income tax receivable decreased to £6.0m from £33.6m at FY 2024, cash and cash equivalents decreased by £22.5m to £242.9m from £265.4m, which includes £121.9m of customer deposits compared to £118.3m at FY 2024.
Current liabilities increased by £50.1m from £669.0m at FY 2024 to £719.1m at H1 2025. Trade and other payables have increased by £4.4m to £395.5m due to an increase in marketing spend and an increase in the accrual for gaming taxes. Provisions decreased by £2.1m from £72.0.m at FY 2024 to £69.9m at H1 2025 primarily due to the payment of a historic Swedish fine. Furthermore, there are provisions of £63.4m for gaming tax in Austria. Borrowings within current liabilities have increased to £14.1m predominantly driven by the 10.5m Senior unsecured Notes being due in 2026.
Non-current liabilities were £2,047.1m, a decrease of £50.2m from the balance of £2,097.3m at FY 2024. Deferred tax liability decreased by £17.0m to £133.1m, mainly driven by the unwind of deferred tax on the acquisition accounting. Additionally, provisions for customer claims of £117.5m are currently recognised as non-current liabilities.
Net liabilities of £169.3m was an increase of £73.5m compared to £95.8m at FY 2024.
Overall, the Group had a cash outflow of £22.5m in the period, compared to an outflow of £12.6m in H1 2024. This resulted in a cash balance of £242.9m as at 30 June 2025 (£243.6m at 30 June 2024), although this included customer deposits and other restricted cash of £121.9m such that unrestricted cash available to the Group was £121.0m (H1 2024: £116.4m).
Cash flow from operations was a £139.3m inflow compared to an inflow of £74.7m in H1 2024, with the H1 2025 inflow predominantly due to the cash generated from operating activities as a result of the stronger financial performance.
Capital expenditure was £49.2m in H1 2025 (£32.9m in H1 2024) with continued investment in product development and revenue generative activities.
Included within net movement in borrowings is £16.5m of payments of lease liabilities.
As at 30 June 2025, £71m was drawn on the RCF, with £129m undrawn facility available.
Net interest paid of £103.6m (£77.3m in H1 2024) predominantly related to the borrowings undertaken.
Other movements included £1.6m further investment in 888AFRICA, as well as foreign exchange differences on retranslation of £21.7m.
The gross borrowings balance as at 30 June 2025 was £1,834.8m (£1,839.8m in FY 2024). The earliest maturity of this debt is in 2026, which is £10.5m, with most of the debt maturing across 2027 to 2030 following the refinancing to extend out the maturity of £400m by two years to 2030. In addition to this, the Group has access to a £200m Revolving Credit Facility, with £150m available until 2028 and £50m available through to December 2025. Total drawings on the RCF were £71m at 30 June 2025 (£85m at 31 December 2024).
The debt is across GBP sterling, Euro and US Dollar; with 26% (H1 2024: 26%) of the debt in Euro; 73% (H1 2024: 67%) in GBP and 1% in USD (H1 2024: 7%). The Group has undertaken hedging activities such that 94% (H1 2024: 91%) of the interest is at fixed rates and 6% (H1 2024: 9%) at floating rates.
Loan transaction fees have reduced from £61.6m to £51.4m reflecting the amortisation of finance fees.
The net debt balance at 30 June 2025 was £1,818.2m with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 5.0x. This compares to £1,787.7m and 5.7x respectively as at 31 December 2024 with higher LTM EBITDA reducing leverage.
The principal risks and uncertainties that are considered to have a potentially material impact on the Group’s future performance, sustainability and strategic objectives are set out below. The principal risks and uncertainties are consistent with those defined in the 2024 Annual Report, available at https://evokeplc.com.
This list is not exhaustive but encompasses management’s assessment of those risks which require considered response at this time.
The Group’s Value Creation Plan (VCP) is fundamental to driving shareholder value and maintaining market confidence. Successful execution of strategic initiatives and clear alignment of business decisions with the VCP are critical to achieving our strategic objectives and ensuring long-term sustainability.
The current business environment demands a delicate balance between addressing immediate operational challenges and implementing long-term strategic transformation. This complex landscape is further complicated by evolving regulatory requirements and the need to maintain operational excellence while undertaking significant organisational change.
Poor execution of the VCP could result in multiple adverse impacts, including share price underperformance, loss of stakeholder confidence, and employee disengagement. Resource constraints, coupled with competing priorities between regulatory compliance projects and strategic initiatives, pose significant challenges to successful implementation.
The Group faces significant Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks, which include challenges such as player safety and climate change. Climate-related risks, in particular, present unique challenges due to their non-linear nature, and the complexity of forecasting. A critical aspect of this risk lies in the Group’s supply chain, as 95% of its emissions are Scope 3 emissions. We continue to engage with our supply chain to better understand their climate strategies, targets and transition plans in order to ensure alignment with our own goals which we review annually based on supply chain alignment and other external factors
We aim to ensure we are a sustainable business with improving ESG ratings to enhance our ability to raise capital, secure investment, and enhance our valuation multiple. Lower ratings from key agencies could increase the cost of capital and limit the Group’s valuation, while also damaging its reputation in the market.
The Group is exposed to market risks, including fluctuations in foreign exchange (FX) rates and interest rates, which can impact profitability, cash flow, and financial stability. A substantial portion of the Group’s deposits and revenues are generated in GBP, EUR, and other currencies, while operating expenses are primarily incurred in GBP, EUR, ILS, and RON, with additional exposure to SEK and PLN. This mismatch between revenue and expense currencies, combined with debt servicing costs denominated in USD and EUR, creates vulnerabilities to adverse FX rate movements.
The Group is also exposed to interest rate risks and has implemented hedging strategies that have secured the majority of its interest costs at fixed rates for the next two years. While this provides some stability, movements in market interest rates could still result in higher borrowing costs. Conversely, the Group also faces the risk of missing opportunities to lock in lower interest rates if too much of its debt remains fixed. These fluctuations in interest rates could divert financial resources away from critical areas such as growth initiatives, marketing, and the development of new products and projects, ultimately impacting the Group’s ability to execute its strategic objectives.
These market risks, driven by FX and interest rate volatility, underscore the challenges of managing a global financial profile and maintaining financial resilience in a dynamic economic environment.
Liquidity risk arises from the possibility that the Group may have insufficient funds to settle its liabilities as they fall due. While the Group generates strong operating cash flows and maintains sufficient cash balances to meet anticipated working capital requirements, there is a risk that external shocks, underperformance, or the maturity of bank facilities could result in insufficient liquidity to service debts, pay suppliers or cover significant obligations, such as UK gaming tax payments. Such scenarios could lead to default on debt payments, acceleration of group debt repayments, and additional penalties or costs, further straining the Group’s financial position.
Debt and leverage risks also pose significant challenges. The Group’s leverage could fail to meet its stated strategic leverage targets due to earnings underperformance or FX rate shocks. This could result in a default on bank covenants, triggering the acceleration of debt repayments and damaging the Group’s market reputation. Furthermore, a significant decline in credit ratings or a downgrade in the debt capital markets could restrict the Group’s ability to raise funds to support growth, execute strategic initiatives, or capitalise on new opportunities. These risks highlight the importance of maintaining financial flexibility and access to capital to sustain operations and drive future growth.
The Group’s colleagues are essential to its operational success and strategic objectives, but it faces risks related to retention of senior leadership roles and engagement as a whole. Overall company attrition has been steadily decreasing throughout 2024, which is partially attributed to the lack of movement in the jobs market and static economic environment. At the same time, the high number of redundancies in 2024 and the requirement to pivot to a new strategy and way of working has impacted engagement scores. Less colleagues are actively leaving the business but are not feeling fully engaged; the result of which can lead to a decrease in productivity.
These risks threaten the Group’s ability to maintain a skilled, motivated, and engaged workforce, impacting operational efficiency, financial performance, and long-term strategic goals.
The Group relies heavily on third-party suppliers to deliver a number of critical services, including technology, payment processing, marketing, gaming products, sports content, and media. Effective management of these relationships is essential to achieving strategic objectives and ensuring operational continuity. Failures or disruptions in supplier services, such as outages, insolvency, or non-compliance, could lead to significant operational, financial, and reputational impacts. Additionally, supplier-side compliance failures, such as breaches of GDPR or regulatory licenses, could result in fines, legal claims, and reputational damage.
The Group also faces risks related to strategic partnerships, such as B2B gambling services in the United States, where meeting contractual obligations and maintaining compliance are critical to long-term growth. Specific risks include service outages from key providers, which could disrupt betting markets, customer experience, and revenue streams.
The Group faces significant information security risks, including cyber-attacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), phishing, malware, and unauthorised access to sensitive systems or data. These risks extend to the potential theft, misuse, or exposure of customer and business data by both internal and external entities, as well as vulnerabilities introduced through manual processes, misconfigurations, or inadequate security controls. Such incidents could result in regulatory fines, reputational damage, loss of customer trust, and operational disruptions. Additionally, the Group is exposed to risks from third-party vendors with weak security postures, legacy systems that lack proper patching, and inconsistent access management practices, which could lead to data breaches, fraud, or system compromise.
The loss of availability of critical technology systems, whether due to cyber-attacks, insider threats, or physical disasters, could disrupt operations, cause revenue loss, and lead to breaches of regulatory obligations. Vulnerabilities in the Group’s internal network, cloud systems, or CI/CD pipelines could expose sensitive information or allow attackers to exploit production systems. These risks are compounded by the increasing sophistication of external attacks, such as automated credential attacks, which can overwhelm public-facing services and degrade customer experience.
As a company, we acknowledge the critical importance of innovation and digital transformation in driving growth and maintaining competitiveness. However, we recognise that these initiatives come with inherent risks, particularly as we consolidate multiple systems and pursue the development of a unified, scalable global technology platform. This transformation introduces short-term complexities and challenges, including potential operational disruptions, system failures, and resource constraints.
The causes of these risks include the complexity of integrating legacy systems, dependencies on third-party suppliers, and the fast-paced nature of technological advancements. Additionally, the reliance on outdated systems, and the need to modernise our applications further amplify these challenges. The rapid scaling of automation also contribute to the potential for errors, inefficiencies, and operational disruptions.
Operational disruptions, such as unplanned outages or system downtimes, can hinder critical business activities, disrupt customer experiences, and lead to financial losses. Legacy system dependencies increase the likelihood of data loss, inefficiencies, and challenges in maintaining business continuity. Poor implementation of new features, outdated applications, or inadequate product communication can negatively affect customer satisfaction, retention, and acquisition. Failures in regulatory APIs, governance gaps, or delays in adapting to regulatory changes can result in operational halts, legal scrutiny, and reputational damage. Scalability and capacity constraints, driven by high demand on systems and resource limitations, can result in performance degradation, outages, and delays in delivering critical projects.
Compliance with regulatory requirements is critical to maintaining the Group’s licenses, protecting customers, and ensuring business continuity. With the majority of revenue generated from licensed jurisdictions and an increasing number of countries introducing regulations, the importance of adhering to these requirements continues to grow.
The complexity of the regulatory landscape, including jurisdictional nuances, evolving requirements, and heightened scrutiny, pose significant risks. These include the potential for financial penalties, reputational damage, and operational disruptions.
The risk of non-compliance extends to areas such as inadequate data governance, failure to meet reporting deadlines, and breaches of safer gambling or marketing regulations. Additionally, changes in legislation, such as amendments to the UK Gambling Act or new jurisdictional requirements, could restrict product offerings, impose stricter customer checks, or limit marketing activities, leading to reduced revenue, and customer attrition.
Reputational damage is a critical concern, as regulatory breaches can erode customer trust and stakeholder confidence. High-profile fines or license suspensions could also attract negative media attention, further impacting the Group’s standing in the market.
The growing complexity of the Group’s regulatory footprint, legacy systems, and operational challenges, increases the likelihood of non-compliance. This risk is amplified by jurisdictional differences, frequent regulatory changes, and the need for robust relationships with regulators to navigate these challenges effectively.
Ensuring compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations is critical to maintaining our licenses and protecting the business from financial crime. The nature of online gambling, as highlighted by the EU Supranational Risk Assessment 2022, presents a very high risk for money laundering and terrorist financing in the absence of effective controls. This risk is exacerbated by the complexity of jurisdictional regulations, evolving criminal techniques, and inconsistencies in processes and systems across brands.
Key risks include failures in customer due diligence (CDD), inadequate monitoring of transactions, ineffective reporting mechanisms, and gaps in staff training and competence. Jurisdictional nuances, such as differing thresholds and regulatory requirements, create further challenges in aligning policies and processes, potentially leading to operational inefficiencies and regulatory breaches.
The potential impacts of these risks are severe, including regulatory sanctions, significant financial penalties, license suspensions or revocations, and legal action against the company or its executives. Reputational damage is also a critical concern, as regulatory failings can erode trust with customers, stakeholders, and regulators. These risks underscore the importance of maintaining robust governance and oversight to mitigate the threat of financial crime and ensure compliance with AML regulations.
Adjusted EBITDA is an Alternative Performance Measure (“APM”) which does not have an IFRS standardised meaning. Refer to Appendix 1 – Alternative performance measures in the Group’s 2024 annual report for further detail.
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