Entain shares climbed as bookie scored revenue and earnings growth

Ladbrokes owner Entain (LSE:ENT) saw its shares rise, closing Thursday’s close up 5% at 550p, after impressing investors in the City of London with strong first half financials.

Revenue was up 6% to £2.55 billion, whilst earnings (adjusted EBITDA) rose 5% to £524 million.

In particular, in a football-packed trading period - that included the end of the Premier League season, the Champions League final, UEFA Euro 204 and the Copa America tournament – Entain highlighted that its online revenue growth had been ahead of expectations.

“[It was] helped by results going in the bookie’s favour at the Euro 24 football tournament,” Hargreaves Lansdown head of equity research said in a note.

“Takings were down in the UK & Ireland reflecting regulatory headwinds in the online segment, but NGR was still better than expected.”

Entain’s reported a loss after tax of £46.9 million which was a major improvement from the £502 million loss this time last year.

The bookie rewarded investors with an increased dividend, which was also up 5%, to 9.3p per share.

Entain said it now expects online net gaming revenue (NGR) to grow in ‘low single digits’, which represents a more bullish outlook than before, and it forecasted its full-year profit at around £1.06 billion, upgraded from £1.04 billion.

A new chief executive, Gavin Isaacs, joins the company in September and the firm is working through a programme of cost saving that seeks to cut £100 million by 2026.