William Hill parent firm evoke’s full year financials paint a mixed picture for a company in search of a buyer.
To some observers, the timing of evoke’s FY25 results may seem a little off. At the same time the LSE-listed gambling company publishes its full year accounts for 2025, many of its contemporaries are already publishing their Q1 2026 figures.
The reason for this holdup in publishing is likely the talks the company has been holding with Bally’s Intralot over a potential takeover. Talks were confirmed by both parties earlier this month, with Bally’s considering an offer of 50p per evoke share, valuing the firm at $225m.
So, how does its FY25 results present the firm? Firstly, the positives – revenue was up 2% year-over-year to £1.78bn (£1.75bn), while progress was also made on profitability as EBITDA rose 43% from £211.4m to £301.3m.
Per Widerström, evoke’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Throughout 2025 we delivered consistent operational progress resulting in a more efficient, focused and disciplined business delivering improved marketing returns, stronger cost control, enhanced operating leverage, and a step-change in underlying profitability.”
Now for the negatives. Despite some progress on profitability with regards to EBITDA, evoke still remains loss making. Loss after tax rose a hefty 149% from £220.9m to £549.1m, while the group’s net debt for the year came in at an eye watering £1.9bn.
For Bally’s Intralot, this debt will be a big consideration. Bally’s Intralot is also a business which carries a large amount of debt – a result of Intralot taking out loans to finance its acquisition of Bally’s International Interactive which led to the business’ creation last year.
Should a Bally’s Intralot offer be accepted by the 18 May deadline, finding a way to wipe this debt, or at the very least factor it into long-term strategic planning, will be a top priority.
However, as Widerström and Sean Wilkins, evoke’s Chief Financial Officer, asserted to analysts in its earnings call this morning, the group has been working extensively to cut costs…
evoke’s UK&I status resilient … for now
Evoke’s revenue is reported across two main segments – UK&I, and International. The former is divided into two further segments – retail, encompassing William Hill’s high street betting operations; and online, encompassing William Hill Online, the 888 group of betting, gaming and bingo brands, and the Mr Green casino.
Total UK&I revenue was down 2% last year from £1.2bn to £1.17bn. Declines were seen across both retail and online, though the latter actually outpaced the former – interesting Gambling Commission stats show that online gross gaming yield (GGY) has consistently risen quarter-on-quarter while retail GGY consistently drops.
On the topic of retail declines, however, evoke opted to conduct an extensive review of its William Hill retail estate during Q1. This led to the company deciding to close 270 underperforming William Hill shops, confirmed in today’s announcement.
“We do see the general macro trends of digital versus retail,” said Widerström, responding to a question from SBC News during this morning’s call.
“There is the cost pressure in the sector, but as we outlined in our report we have done a very in-depth review of our retail estate, and we identified 230 shops that we are closing.
“We have some fantastic 1,000+ shops that are providing excellent service and entertainment to our customers, and obviously with this more efficient retail estate we have sufficiently improved the long term sustainability, cash flow and profitability.”
Wilkins provided a further breakdown, attributing the overall 2% UK&I reduction to ‘operator friendly sports results’ during the fourth quarter. He also revealed that 888 revenue in the UK and Ireland was down 8% specifically.
However, the CFO did assert that ‘gaming remained resilient’, largely due to a ‘strong performance for William Hill’. He added that the firm is ‘looking to get the right ROI before scaling up any investment’ in the UK.
The group’s UK&I outlook will be, unsparingly, shaped by the new tax regime that came into effect on 1 April 2026. Although he acknowledged it’s still too early to judge the impact of the taxes, Wilkins gave a positive outlook.
“We originally said we would see an impact of £125-£130m, I think that’s going to be slightly lower now because we’ve reduced our revenue expectations in the UK,” he said, in response to an analysts’ question.
“We’re starting by the 50% mitigation that we called out originally. We also expect to see market consolidation and to improve our market share. In the first 30 days, the truth is we’ve not seen any impact. The company is pleased with the way UK&I online is performing.”
International – a mixed picture of evoke’s ‘growth engine’
According to Wilkins, international was the ‘growth engine’ for evoke during 2025. However, he added that the division’s performance was still not ‘as well as we hoped’.
International revenue rose 9.3% from £555.2m to £606.9m. EBITDA was also up 49.2% from £130m to £175.4m. Growth in Italy, Denmark and Romania was cited as the main driver behind this.
According WIlkins, the firm is continuing to grow market share in Romania, following the acquisition of Winner.ro in August 2024. Leadership did note some lingering challenges in Romania, however.
“Romania is seeing strong black market growth following tax increase, and as regulated operators this is hurting us,” said WIlkins, echoing a similar industry talking point across the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere.
“We have to cut back on marketing and promotions to protect profitability, and the black market doesn’t so this impacts revenue.”
He also cited the impact of Romania’s recession as affecting business there. Aside from Romania, leadership was disappointed with Spain where results were described as ‘flat’.
Looking ahead, evoke is clearly a group with a lot of potential across its brands, and given the strength of these brands is unsurprising the group has found itself the target of acquisition interest ever since initialling a strategic review in December 2025.
Continued loss-making and a large amount of debt may hold the company back, however, and leadership seems very aware of this.
“Our focus for 2026 is very much on cash generation and balance sheet strength,” said Wilkins.
Following the release of its FY25 results, evoke’s share price has remained broadly stable, dipping slightly by 0.90% but remaining around 40p per share.