IZI Finance generates a pre-tax profit of €323,142 during the final six months of 2023

IZI Finance plc on Wednesday announced that it registered a pre-tax profit of €323,142 during the final six months of 2023, representing a significant improvement from the same period in 2022, when it registered a loss of €3.1 million.

It also revealed a surge in revenue of 25 per cent, reaching €45.5 million during the six months ended 31st December 2023. In H2 2022, revenue reached €36.4 million.

The upturn in income was primarily due to €30.7 million generated from National Lottery, accounting for 67.5 per cent of the revenue. This was closely followed by revenue from the Dragonara Casino at €13.3 million (29.2 per cent of total revenue). The remaining 3.3 per cent (€1.5 million) came from the interactive gaming business.

IZI Finance is the finance company of the operating and associated companies within IZI Group, which operates in Malta’s land-based gaming industry, including casinos, sports betting, commercial bingo, and electronic gaming machines. The company also took over Malta’s lottery concession in 2022.

A familiar story for most companies across practically all industries, IZI reported that staff costs were also on the rise, going up to €7.2 million, 5.1 per cent more than in the comparable period in 2022.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and rent (EBITDAR) for the period amounted to €12.6 million, significantly higher than the €7.8 million recorded in the final six months of 2022.

IZI Finance registered €2.8 million in total finance costs in the second half of 2023, of which €1.3 million related to bank borrowings, €700,000 to bonds in issue and €800,000 to interest related to leasing arrangements.

Total assets as at the end of the reporting period amounted to €278.1 million, marginally lower than the figure recorded at the end of 30th June 2023 (€279 million).

The Board of Directors stated that IZI Finance’s financial performance reflects the “remarkable operational performance” of all its business units, which are now delivering in line with the company’s growth projections. It added that in the coming months, the Directors will be working with management to “start shifting a stronger focus on the realisation of efficiency gains and the attainment of better optimisation as a result of the group’s consolidation.”