The FTSE Russell has confirmed that Entain will drop off the FTSE 100 Index following a stark drop in its market cap.
City analysts had expected this to happen as the Ladbrokes Coral owner’s £3.31m market cap is now the lowest on the FTSE 100.
Entain, alongside housebuilding company Persimmon, will be deleted from the index at the close of play on 18 September and enter the FTSE 250 – London’s 101st-350th biggest listed firms – on 21 September. The duo will be replaced by oil and gas firm Ithaca Energy and low-cost airline Easyjet.
The firm’s shares have been gradually decreasing for over a year now, with increased taxes in its home market of the UK likely being one of several factors dissuading investors.
At the end of July, BetMGM, which is co-owned by Entain and MGM Resorts International, revealed that it expects full-year net revenue and adjusted EBITDA to come in at the lower end of its guidance ranges.
That led to another sizable decline in Entain’s stock and may have been the final nail in the coffin of the firm’s FTSE 100 journey.
It brings to an end a six-year chapter on the London Stock Exchange’s premium index for Entain, which joined the FTSE 100 in June 2020.
A year later, the group’s stock had more than doubled from around £7.60 to £18 as the picture being painted for gambling PLCs was a fairly positive one.
Entain’s stock peaked at £21.56 in October 2021 but, nearly five years later, it sits at £5.23 following a share price slump of over 75% in that time.
Entain leadership will look for a bounceback
Nevertheless, leadership remains positive despite a fairly bleak period for the UK betting sector.
The company recently beat H1 expectations – net gaming revenues rose 5% to £2.55bn as Entain reaped the rewards from the early stages of the 2026 World Cup.
Chief Financial Officer Michael Snape has confirmed that the business is eating up market share as mid-tier operators struggle to mitigate the impact of the 21% to 40% rise in Remote Gaming Duty.
However, that rise played a part in Entain’s corporate tax charge jumping to £57.8m from £19.5m.
The firm has sent continuous warnings to policymakers and sporting bodies on these shores about the impact of the burgeoning black market, which continues to benefit from more stringent regulation.
Despite shop closures and a widening net loss figure – which increased to £681m in FY25 – leadership will be laser-focused on increasing market share and recovering a plummeting share price as Entain aims to make its FTSE 100 Index relegation a brief one.