Evoke's delayed release of the fiscal year 2025 earnings report revealed the most glaring wound on the books of William Hill and parent company 888. The group's annual revenue increased slightly by 2% to 1.78 billion pounds, EBITDA jumped 43% year-on-year to 310 million pounds, but the post-tax loss ballooned from 221 million pounds last year to 541 million pounds, a decline of 149%. CEO Per Widerström faced a barrage of questions during Thursday's analyst call—continuously shrinking stock prices, escalating debts—and offered a brief but powerful response: "I am a shareholder myself, and I assure you, we are absolutely focused on creating value for shareholders." He shifted the focus back to controllable metrics by management: after years of declining revenue and profits, the company is back on a growth trajectory, EBITDA profitability has substantially improved, and it is de-leveraging. However, Regulus Partners stated in a briefing released the same day that considering the inflation rates in all of Evoke's core markets are higher than this growth rate, this 2% revenue increase actually means a real value shrinkage.
The international segment's 9% increase supports the scene, with both Italy and Denmark setting quarterly revenue records
The fatigue of the UK and Ireland markets contrasts sharply with the robustness of the overseas engine. Revenue in the UK and Ireland fell by 3% year-on-year, betting income shrank by 12% despite stable betting amounts, and gambling revenue only increased slightly by 2%. In contrast, international business revenue climbed by 9% year-on-year, with Italy and Denmark both setting new quarterly revenue records. Widerström confirmed that the company is gaining market share in these two markets. CFO Sean Wilkins revealed that since the remote gambling tax was raised from 21% to 40% in April, the group has not yet observed a significant substantive impact. He is quite satisfied with the performance of the UK online business and expects the revenue structure to remain unchanged despite the increased tax burden. Consistent with the logic of competitors Bally and Entain, Evoke bets that market consolidation will bring a share bonus to leading players—Wilkins' judgment is quite straightforward, smaller operators will bear a disproportionate impact from the tax burden, thereby promoting Evoke's market share increase.
Store closures to stop bleeding and cash flow difficulties under the pressure of one-time costs
The contraction at the retail level is also progressing simultaneously. Widerström confirmed that a batch of stores had been closed, with annual revenue in the UK retail sector slightly down by 1%. He characterized this move as locking in cash regeneration and long-term sustainability of profitability by streamlining the property portfolio, and revealed that the group had conducted an extremely thorough review of the entire retail assets. Considering the continuous headwinds of the macroeconomy on offline betting business, retaining over 1000 stores still providing quality service and experience is seen as a baseline for defensive counterattacks.
In terms of cash flow and debt, Wilkins admitted that cash flow performance was disappointing within the year, although a significant part of the contraction was due to temporal mismatch. Net cash deteriorated from a positive 9 million pounds in 2024 to a negative 34 million pounds at the end of 2025, and net debt climbed slightly from 1.79 billion pounds to 1.86 billion pounds. Two one-time costs added to the burden: the reclassification of historical gambling taxes in Austria caused an additional expenditure of 8 million pounds, and the update of the license system in Italy also brought about a one-time license fee. Regarding the ongoing strategic review and the acquisition negotiations with Bally Intralot worth 225 million pounds, Widerström explicitly refused to respond, only stating that negotiations are expected to end in May. Bally CEO Robson Reeves had previously seen Evoke's UK online and international business as a key opportunity for its operating model to graft and release synergistic effects.
PASA official website continues to track the financial dynamics and strategic restructuring process of European gambling operators, noting the huge tension between Evoke's slight increase in revenue and the surge in losses, providing a highly tense reference sample for the narrative of industry consolidation under the backdrop of UK remote gambling tax reform.
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