Operator News

888 creates new umbrella brand called Evoke amid ‘disappointing’ results

By Phil - 26 March 2024

888, one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies with internationally renowned brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, has created a corporate umbrella brand, Evoke, to provide a definitive direction for the company’s ‘great customer facing brands.’

The company said the new brand will ‘better reflect the strength of the Group’s multi-brand operating model and its vision and mission to make life more interesting by delighting players with world-class betting and gaming experiences.’ 

Per Widerström, CEO, said: “Today marks a new start, our new one company, Evoke. We need a corporate brand. We need a new company name that is memorable and translatable. A new direction. A new sense of purpose. We have a lot of work to do. It is a reset of the business. But we know exactly what success looks like, and we have a clear strategy to get there. This will be delivered with a laser-focus on execution.

“We are crystal clear on where we are focused, to deliver the best returns,” he added. “We know this is a very competitive industry. We want every customer to recommend our brands to their friends. We are moving towards a world of infinite personalisation.”

The rebrand came amid the announcement of what were called ‘disappointing’ results. 888 generated revenues of £1,710.9m during 2023, an increase of 38.1 per cent compared to 2022. However without the second half revenues of William Hill revenues decreased by 7.5 per cent primarily reflecting dotcom compliance changes and UK online customer mix changes.

Revenue from sports betting was £648.8m, representing a 0.9 per cent decline with stakes down 11.3 per cent, offset by an increase in betting net win margin from 10.8 per cent to 12.1 per cent. Both primarily reflect the customer mix changes in the UK online segment to lower staking, higher margin, recreational customers. Gaming revenue of £1,062.1m was down 11.2 per cent year-over-year, predominantly driven by the factors mentioned above, with dotcom markets more heavily weighted towards gaming.

Mr. Widerström said of the decline: “This was driven primarily by a proactive revenue mix shift away from dotcom markets, which impacted revenues by approximately £80m during FY 2023. Revenue was further impacted by customer mix changes in the UK as a result of additional safer gambling measures, as well as a change in the Group’s marketing approach to focus more on sustainable revenue and profitability. Together, these changes have created a higher quality and more sustainable business mix, including approximately 95 per cent of FY 2023 revenue being generated from regulated and taxed markets, up from 89 per cent last year.

The company strengthened its executive team with ‘outstanding skills and experience to drive execution’ with seven out of 10 positions being new appointments. As part of this the group has commenced six strategic initiatives to drive operational excellence and prepare the business for step-change value creation. Through a laser focus on execution the group is aiming to strengthen its core capabilities and competitive advantages, creating a stronger platform for profitable growth.

It ha simplified its market archetypes into to two categories: Core Markets (UK, Italy, Spain, and Denmark) with in-country scale and market-leading positions, and Optimise Markets.

Mr Widerström added: “It is incredibly exciting to announce our Value Creation Plan, our strategy for success, our new financial targets, and our new corporate identity. We have acted with pace, decisiveness and urgency to build a clear strategy to deliver success. These actions include significantly strengthening our executive leadership team and developing a new strategic framework and Value Creation Plan.

“I firmly believe that the Group now has all the key ingredients for long-term success: leading positions in growing markets with high and rising barriers to entry; powerful proprietary technology; a top-class management team; and some of the strongest betting and gaming brands in the world.”

“We are now clear on what success looks like, we have the team and capabilities to deliver, and I am confident that the execution of our plan will deliver a high return on equity from sustainable profitable growth, enhanced by deleveraging.”