Kindred records ‘strongest year to date, despite temporary headwinds’

Kindred Group has released its earnings report for 2021, reflecting its "strongest year to date, despite temporary headwinds."

The Malta-based company recorded total revenues of £1.26 billion (€1.5 billion) during the year, up from £1.13 billion (€1.34 billion) the year before.

However, despite the strong year, revenues for the final quarter were somewhat underwhelming, hitting £244.9 million (€291 million), down from £364.7 million (€433.3 million) during the same quarter a year before.

This decrease was led by an almost precipitous drop in gross winnings revenue, of 34 per cent, hitting £240.5 million (€285.8 million).

In terms of annual profit after tax, the quarter saw a decline after tax from £84.9 million (€100.9 million) during Q4 2020 to £75 million (€89.1 million).

Also notably, the company recorded a significantly lower number of active customers, which fell to 1,461,009, from 1,781,617.

These declines did not cancel out the strong quarters recorded earlier in 2021, however, and annual gross winnings revenue increase by 11 per cent to £1.26 billion while profit after tax increased substantially, reaching £295 million (€350.5 million), up from £165.2 million (€196.3 million).

Kindred CEO Henrik Tjärnström commented one the results, acknowledging the challenging fourth quarter.

"Exceptionally strong numbers in 2020 led to tough comparatives for the quarter but despite the low sports betting margin at the beginning of the quarter, and the fact that we ceased services to Dutch residents, our fourth quarter delivered solid revenues."

Regarding the Dutch market, he added: "Our Dutch licence application was submitted at the end of November as our “cooling-off” period ended, and the licensing process is advancing according to plan."

Kindred acquired Relax Gaming at the start of October, and Mr Tjärnström explained that the company is working towards achieving the potential identified annual synergies of £6.9 million (€8.2 million), while leveraging the acquisition's "unique content" to differentiate its B2C product suite.

Providing an update on the markets Kindred is active in, the CEO stated that with the North American business "in its infancy," the company's more mature markets in Europe and Australia performed well during the final quarter.

"This indicates the strength in our core market performance."

Considering the results, Kindred's board of directors has proposed a dividend of £0.3369 per share.