La Française des jeux (FDJ) garnered 19 billion euros in stakes last year, an amount up 11% compared to 2019, the year of its privatization and before the health crisis, and announces that it is raising its objectives to horizon 2025 thanks to the growth of online activities.
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Turnover is slightly better than expected at 2.25 billion euros against 2.21 billion expected by Bloomberg and Factset, and the gaming operator is now counting on an average annual growth of "
4 to 5%
” over 2021-2025, against “
3 to 4%
” anticipated so far, specifies a press release published on Wednesday.
"
The year 2021 marks FDJ's return to its pre-crisis growth trajectory for all of its activities
", comments CEO Stéphane Pallez, specifying that the results are "
significantly superior to those recorded in 2019, thanks to to the acceleration of digital and growth in the network of points of sale
".
Strong growth in net profit
The gaming operator also indicates that, in view of these good figures, it is also counting on an Ebitda margin rate "
over 25%
" against "
over 20%
" set for 2025 when the group was privatized, and a share of digital bets at more than 20% of total bets at the same deadline - they represented 10% of the total in 2020. Net income was 294 million euros last year, up 37, 6% compared to 2020 and 45.7% compared to 2019. Stakes increased last year by 5% in the point-of-sale network compared to 2019 and jumped 42% on digital compared to 2020. On the lottery alone, online stakes increased by 37% in 2021 over one year, after +55% in 2020 over 2019.
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“
More than two years ahead of pre-health crisis expectations, online lottery bets amount to nearly 1.6 billion euros and represent nearly 11% of total lottery bets
” i.e. almost “
doubling compared to the level of 2019
” which was 6%, comments the group.
For the current year, FDJ is counting on an increase in turnover of "
nearly 5%
" and an EBITDA margin rate of more than 23.5%.