Operator News

France – Investments in Pornic, La Ciotat and Aix-en-Provence paying off for Partouche

By Phil - 13 December 2019

Groupe Partouche, one of the European gaming leaders, saw its Gross Gaming Revenue for the fourth quarter 2019, from August to October 2019) increase by 7.4 per cent to reach €178.7m.

Investments are paying off for the group with casinos in Pornic,La Ciotat and Aix-en-Provence showing some particularly impressive results after having money spent on them.

Driven by an increased attendance of +5.4 per cent, the company’s GGR in France was up by €10.1m reaching a total of €150.2n and marking an increase of 7.2 per cent. Slots GGR continued its satisfactory growth, up by 5.6 per cent to €122.2m. Table games GGR accelerated its growth by 14.7 per cent (€28.1m) thanks to the electronic machines, up 41.8 per cent. These performances are the more noteworthy as they take into account the cessation of operations of the Boulogne-sur-Mer casino at the end of June 2019.

Abroad, after a weaker third quarter which fell by 0.9 per cent, GGR registered a sharp rise up by 8.4 per cent to €28.4m, driven both by the activity of the slot machines, up 6.8 per cent, and by traditional games, up 10.7 per cent. Partouche highlighted the good performance of the GGR of its land-based casinos in Belgium, up 6.3 per cent, along with its online games and sports betting in Belgium, up 13.9 per cent.

In the 2019 financial year, GGR has so far reached €672.7m, an increase of €33.9m, up 5.3 per cent, due to the growth of the slot machines GGR, up 3.6 per cent, the GGR of electronic traditional games in France, up 28.6 per cent and online games and sports betting in Belgium, up 25.4 per cent.

In addition, the evolution of the EUR/CHF exchange rate for the two Swiss casinos in Meyrin and Crans-Montana was favourable with revenues up by €2.3m.

Casinos turnover, up five per cent, benefited from both the sustained attendance in France, which increased by 3.5 per cent and the success of casinos that benefited from the investment program.

The annual growth in the turnover of the new Pornic casino was particularly impressive up by 50.5 per cent, having been relocated a year ago. There was also a significant increase in turnover of the casino La Ciotat this year, up 10.9 per cent, following the growth of its first full year operations as an Open Air casino since July 2017, when its revenues increased by 38.2 per cent. Partouche also highlighted the success of the Grand Pasino Aix-en-Provence, with a strong increase in turnover, up 32.8 per cent during the fourth quarter, thanks to its innovative restructuring.

A spokesperson said: “These results confirm the relevance of the group’s modernisation and expansion program, which will also be applied to new sites in the coming years, notably at La Tour-de-Salvagny near Lyon and Annemasse near Geneva.”

Caption: Relocating Casino de Pornic has brought growth of 50.5 per cent