WORLD CUP, ONLINE GAMING SWELL TABCORP COFFERS
TABCORP has swung to a net profit of $28.7 million in 2017-18 following its merger with Tatts Group, with digital sales and the FIFA World Cup helping to lift the gaming giant’s reach and revenue.
Tabcorp yesterday said full-year revenue for the 2017-18 financial jumped 71 per cent to $3.83 billion from $2.22 billion a year earlier.
But the latest results — up from a $20.8 million loss a year earlier — were cut back by significant items of $217.5 million, including additional merger costs and costs related to the loss-making Sun Bets and Luxbet operations.
Tabcorp announced it was exiting Sun Bets, a joint venture with News UK, in July, while it closed online operation Luxbet in December.
On a pro forma basis — adjusting to account for the impact of the Tatts acquisition and excluding Sun Bets — revenue was up 2.5 per cent to $5.11 billion and earnings 2.8 per cent at $989.2 million.
Revenue from Tabcorp’s wagering and media businesses was steady at $2.462 billion.
But while TAB’s revenue growth was up 2.5 per cent, revenue at UBET, the wagering business owned by Tatts Group, declined by 0.7 per cent.
Tabcop chief executive David Attenborough said the company planned on phasing out the UBET brand and replacing it with the TAB brand late this year.
TAB’s online revenue rose 16.3 per cent, with a digital turnover of $5 billion, compared to a 3.3 per cent fall in revenue at retail venues. Digital sales also rose strongly in Tabcorp’s lotteries business, growing by 27.8 per cent and accounting for almost 18 per cent of total lottery sales.
Mr Attenborough said despite customers’ shift towards online gambling, bricks and mortar stores weren’t going anywhere.
“It’s really at the heart of the of a lot of Australian communities — their local pub and club,” he told reporters.
“We do not see a development where you end up with digital without retail. All our long-term strategies are about the integration within the retail environment.”
The FIFA World Cup helped boost TAB and UBET active customers by 8 per cent to almost 720,000, Mr Attenborough added.
Mr Attenborough also welcomed regulatory changes made by the state and federal governments, including the banning of synthetic lotteries and advertising restrictions during broadcast sports matches.