Playtech shares plunge after H1 results

FTSE 250 gambling software provider Playtech (LON:PTEC) saw its share price drop by 7.79% to 361p (as of 15:30 BST) after reported profits before tax fell by 71% for the half year ended 30th June. Revenues for the six months were down by 23% but management said that the second half of the year had started well despite the cautious outlook on retail.

CEO Mor Weizer commented: “The attitude of our people coupled with the resilience and diversification of our technology-led business model has delivered a strong first half performance during an extremely challenging period for the industry. These strengths, combined with early decisive action to focus on the safety of our employees and protect the Group’s cash flow, has placed us in a strong position to benefit from the recovery and to capture the exciting market opportunity in the US and Latin America.

“The extraordinary trading conditions during the pandemic have brought us closer than ever to our licensees and we have seen even greater demand for our products, with an increased focus across the globe on intelligent software and personalised player journeys and protection tools. As the leading technology company in the gambling industry, our licensees look to us to deliver innovation that changes the way players experience gambling entertainment. Key to this approach is Sustainable Success, our new ESG strategy launched in H1, which aims to consolidate our position as a global leader in safer products, data analytics and player engagement solutions and build a safe and sustainable gambling industry for the benefit of all stakeholders.

“As well as increasing our work with existing tier one licensees and adding more than 50 new brands to our SaaS model, we have also continued to execute our expansion into strategically important markets such as the US with our first launch in New Jersey and further structured agreements in Latin America. The scale of our technology and the breadth of our product offering mean Playtech can capture commercial opportunities in the fast-growing US and Latin America markets outside the remit of traditional B2B suppliers and we are investing in accelerating this strategy“.