William Hill parent company Evoke reveals widening losses but expects 'significant improvement'

The chief executive of William Hill's parent company Evoke insisted the company's underlying health was growing stronger after it revealed widening losses on Thursday.

Per Widerstrom was speaking as the company formerly known as 888 Holdings published its results for the first six months of the year, having already issued a profits warning last month.

Revenue of £862 million was down two per cent year-over-year, although four per cent higher than the second half of 2023.

Evoke said the decline was mainly driven by an eight per cent fall in the revenue from its William Hill betting shops, with revenue up one per cent from online in the UK and Ireland and flat in its international division.

The company blamed the fall in retail on an unsuccessful introduction of in-house gaming machines and said it would be rolling out a third-party solution in the fourth quarter of this year.

Adjusted core earnings were down 26 per cent at £116m and 67 per cent lower at £44m on a reported basis, the latter down to exceptional costs such as the group's withdrawal from the US market. That was reflected in a widening of reported losses after tax to £143m from £32.5m.

Last month the company had said earnings from its UK and Ireland online division were behind plans "due to lower than expected returns from planned marketing overspend, particularly Cheltenham".

Evoke chief executive Per WiderstromCredit: 888 Holdings

Widerstrom said: "As I said in our July trading update, while the financial performance in the first half was disappointing and behind our initial plan, the underlying health of the business is continually getting stronger. 

"The corrective actions we have already taken give us even more confidence that our strategic approach is sound and that we will achieve sustainable success."

Evoke said it was expecting "significant improvement in profitability" in the second half of the year compared to the first half.

Widerstrom added: "We are completely transforming this business. Whilst the scale of change is significant, it is necessary for us to deliver mid- and long-term profitable growth and value creation. 

"We have already taken bold, decisive actions to both instigate a turnaround in short-term trading performance while simultaneously investing into the group’s capabilities to drive step-change value creation and build a bigger, more profitable, more sustainable, and more cash generative business in the future.

"We have a clear plan, vision and financial targets. As a result of our strategic progress and the enhancements already made to the business, I am even more confident about delivering our value creation plan and driving sustainable profitable growth over the coming years.”

Evoke's share price was up nearly 3.75 per cent at 56.8p in early trading on Thursday morning.

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