Strong sportsbook activity drove Kindred’s improved performance in first half of 2024, says CEO

CEO Nils Andén has stated that the strong sportsbook activity registered by Malta-headquartered Kindred Group during the second quarter helped drive its improved performance in the first half of 2024.

He was commenting following the publication of the group’s interim report for the first six months of the year, during which Kindred Group signalled a steady path towards its annual guidance.

Kindred Group was founded in 1997 with the aim of providing customers with a better and safer way to bet in the modern digital world. Since then, it has established significant market share in key regulated markets across the globe. While it is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap, it is registered in Malta, with an office in Valletta.

The group recently had to exit the North American market, a decision that was taken following an extensive strategic review. This had driven a 53 per cent decrease in pre-tax profit during 2023.

In its latest report, Kindred Group recorded a pre-tax profit of £95.4 million (€113.5 million), a substantial increase of 50.2 per cent over the same period in 2023 (£63.5 million or €75.6 million). Total revenue for the first half of 2024 came in at £635.3 million (€756.1 million), equivalent to a 3.5 per cent increase from the same period last year. Gross winnings revenue also rose by 3.2 per cent to £614.8 million (€731.7 million).

In the second quarter of 2024 (Q2 2024), Kindred Group’s number of active customers increased by 12.1 per cent to 1.7 million.

In his comments on the results, Mr Andén, who became permanent CEO last February, said that Q2 2024’s results build on the group’s solid start to the year.

“We continue to demonstrate our resilience and strategic execution, which is reflected in our strong performance across our market portfolio. The vast majority of our top markets have grown year-on-year, which is very encouraging,” he stated.

He said that Kindred Group’s development in locally regulated markets has been “particularly strong,” with its gross winnings revenue from these markets growing by 10 per cent (12 per cent excluding North America).

“The second quarter contained strong sportsbook activity throughout, with Euro 2024 boosting customer engagement towards the end of the period. Favourable results, in combination with a record share of bet builder activity, delivered a historic high sportsbook margin of 12.1 per cent. This is considerably higher than the long-term average margin of 9.9 per cent and we expect to see some normalisation in the second half of 2024,” Mr Andén continued.

He affirmed that the Kindred Sportsbook Platform (KSP) project remains “firmly on track,” with key features and functionality being released ahead of the planned market rollout, “starting later this year.”

Mr Andén said that live customers from selected test markets are already using the platform and are providing feedback and insight to Kindred Group’s product and development teams.