Future Growth Persists in 2025: Adjusted EBITDA Increases by 44%
Evoke plc, a leading betting and gaming group, has reported a robust performance for the first half of 2025, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of growth. The company's strategic turnaround, centred on AI-driven automation, market refocusing, product innovation, and financial discipline, is paying off, as evidenced by its enhanced financial performance and confident outlook for sustained growth and profitability.
Focus on High-Margin Markets and AI-Driven Efficiency
Evoke has strategically shifted its focus towards high-margin, regulated markets such as the UK, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Denmark. Simultaneously, the company has exited low-margin segments like U.S. B2C businesses, resulting in a 13% revenue growth in 2025 and reducing geographic risk concentration.
The company's AI and automation initiatives, underpinning the "Operations 2.0" program, have significantly boosted operational efficiency. Manual interventions have been reduced by 30%, leading to a 44% increase in H1 2025 adjusted EBITDA to £165.9 million. AI also supports customer interaction improvements and platform integration, driving better customer value and profitability.
Product Innovation and Financial Strength
Evoke's product innovation, notably in retail, includes the rollout of 5,000 new gaming machines and omnichannel integration. This strategic move has revived UK retail growth, as evident by a 15% increase in gross win per machine in Q2 2025.
The company's financial performance is strong, with a target of 5–9% annual revenue growth and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%. Evoke aims to delever from 6.7x to 5.0x debt leverage over 12 months and boasts £250 million liquidity. The company is also targeting 100 basis points EBITDA margin expansion annually from 2025 onwards and debt below 3.5x by end 2027.
A Confident Outlook for the Future
Despite achieving a significant turnaround—with adjusted pre-tax profit turning positive (£5.9 million vs. a prior loss)—analysts note risks from regulatory pressures and regional dependency. However, AI innovations and continued operational gains offer upside potential of about 58% if EBITDA growth continues.
Trading in Q3 2025 is in line with Evoke's expectations. The company expects further profitability gains in the second half of 2025, aided by new product launches, enhanced brand activity, and continued operational efficiencies. Evoke credits these gains to its ongoing transformation plan, focusing on operational excellence, a sharper customer proposition, and product-led growth.
The company's strategic advances include accelerated use of AI and automation in marketing, customer management, and operations. Shares in evoke gained nearly 5% in early morning trading, reflecting the market's positive response to the company's strong performance and promising outlook.
In summary, Evoke plc leverages AI and automation to drive efficiency and product innovation in focused, high-margin regulated markets, resulting in enhanced financial performance and a confident medium-term outlook for profitable growth and deleveraging. The leadership’s transformation program and disciplined market focus underpin this trajectory, balancing growth opportunities with operational and regulatory challenges.
[1]: Evoke plc's H1 2025 Trading Update [2]: Evoke plc's Full-Year 2025 Guidance and Medium-Term Strategy [3]: Evoke plc's H1 2025 Results Announcement [4]: Evoke plc's Q2 2025 Trading Update [5]: Analyst Reports on Evoke plc's H1 2025 Performance
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