La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has reported an 11.9% year-on-year increase in revenue for its financial year-to-date, driven by growth within its digital business, while the group has set out full-year expectations after completing its acquisition of Kindred.
Publishing figures for the nine months to September, FDJ said revenue amounted to €2.01bn (£1.67bn/$2.18bn). This includes lottery, sports betting and igaming operations, as well as international and payment services.
The French monopoly operator reported growth across all areas of the business, although it saw the largest rise within its sports betting and igaming segments.
“FDJ continues to deliver a solid financial and non-financial performance,” FDJ chairwoman and CEO Stéphane Pallez said.
“This performance was driven both by the lottery and by sports betting and online gaming open to competition and by all our distribution channels, with a network of points of sale in progression and strong momentum from digital games.”
Group digital revenue rises 39.3%
In terms of the business as a whole, digital revenue was 39.3% higher year-on-year. FDJ said this was helped by the acquisition of Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) and online horse racing betting operator ZEturf, both of which were completed around this time last year.
This means digital now accounts for 15.2% of total revenue, compared with 12.2% at end-September 2023. In comparison, point-of-sale revenue climbed 8.6%, partly helped by the PLI integration.
Location-wise, operations in France generated €1.91bn, an increase of 8%. The remaining €190m in revenue came from the international and payment and services business. This is higher than the €108m reported last year, helped by the integration of PLI.
Double-digit growth for sports betting and igaming
Breaking down the data, revenue from sports betting and igaming was up 13.3% to €407m. FDJ said several major sporting helped drive growth in the sports betting segment including football’s Euro 2024 and the summer Olympic Games, which took place in FDJ’s native France.
Igaming revenue saw the biggest jump with revenue up 28.4% on a like-for-like basis and FDJ said the business continues to enjoy sustained growth. It says this growth reflects the “intrinsic” strength of its ParionsSport en Ligne brand.
Lottery leads the way for FDJ
Lottery remains by far the primary source of revenue at FDJ. During the reporting period, revenue here hit €1.50bn, a year-on-year rise of 6.6%.
It is here that FDJ first notes the success of digital operations, with revenue from this vertical up 23.9%. This left lottery’s digital penetration at 14% compared to 12% last year.
Revenue from instant games also increased 7.8% year-on-year, helped by the launch of several new titles. On top of this, draw games revenue climbed 4.7%, due in part to more attractive Euromillions jackpots than in 2023.
What about Q3 at FDJ?
FDJ also notes its performance in Q3, covering the three months to the end of September. Revenue for the period was 14.2% higher at €669m.
Lottery was again the leading revenue source at €495m, up 10% from last year. Sports betting and igaming revenue increased 10.3% to €111m, while €61m of revenue came from international and payment and services.
FDJ’s financial year runs to 31 December.
Analysing the potential impact of Kindred integration
Q3 represents the final full quarter in which Kindred is not yet included in the FDJ results. Earlier this month, FDJ completed its acquisition of Kindred after investors in the online gambling group accepted its purchase offer.
Setting out the impact the deal will have on the business, FDJ said if Kindred had been part of its group since the start of the current year, revenue in the nine months to September would have been €2.8bn.
In light of the acquisition, and indeed its own performance in the year-to-date, FDJ has high hopes for the rest of the year. Including Kindred from 11 October, when the deal officially went through, full-year 2024 revenue is set to be around 16% higher year-on-year, with a recurring EBITDA margin of around 25%.
“The group has reached a major milestone in the implementation of its strategy with the completion of the Kindred acquisition in early October,” Pallez said. “It creates a European champion with a diversified and balanced profile for the benefit of all our stakeholders.”
Yesterday (17 October), Kindred also published select figures for its final full quarter before falling under the FDJ group. Kindred reported group revenue of £294.5m across all markets and verticals, up 3.7% from the £283.9m accumulated in the same period of last year.
FDJ earlier this week announced changes to its board. It has appointed a new chairman and three new executive directors to Kindred’s board. It follows the resignation of chairman Evert Carlsson and its five directors.
