William Hill revenue drops 57 percent during COVID-19 pandemic

William Hill PLC, one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies, provides a trading update for the unaudited 17 weeks to 28 April 2020 and COVID-19 update. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic we have acted swiftly and responsibly to protect our customers and colleagues and to ensure the future of William Hill. We have implemented decisive mitigation strategies to minimize cash outflow, reduce our cost base, and preserve our long-term growth opportunities.
Strong performance achieved in international markets, led by growth in gaming, reflecting continued investment in product enhancements.
Material impact from the absence of live sport and social distancing requirements leading to the closure of the UK and US retail estates.
Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) covenants waived for 2020 and reset for 2021, cash burn reduced to c.£15m per month and liquidity in excess of £700m.
Well positioned across the Group to ‘power up’ quickly as live sporting events resume and health considerations permit.
Prior to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, disruption to sporting activities and the closure of the retail estate as a result of social distancing requirements, the Group generated a robust performance across all business areas.
In line with our ambition to diversify internationally, 29% of revenue was generated outside the UK compared to 20% during the same period last year;
Online International net revenue grew 35% driven by a strong performance in gaming. Mr Green, which was launched in Spain during the period, and new product developments - a new sportsbook front end and a single wallet - have gained traction in Italy and Spain. On a pro forma3 basis Online International grew 11%;
Online UK grew in line with expectations as net revenue grew 7% or 6% on a pro forma3 basis. During the period, both NPS and customer satisfaction scores saw material increases reflecting the launch of a new gaming front end and improvements made to the user experience;
Retail like-for-like growth, which was impacted by the implementation of the £2 stake limit on 1 April 2019, was resilient as customers continued to substitute gaming with sports betting;
Our US business continued to perform strongly driven by positive momentum in sportsbook wagering and gross win margin expansion.
Online sports wagers declined although less than anticipated as our customers continued to place bets on alternative products such as table tennis and emerging market football;
Online UK was materially impacted by the reduction in sporting activity with some substitution from sports betting into gaming;
Online International benefitted from continued strong growth in gaming, some substitution from sports betting and increasing traction from product developments launched late last year;
UK and US retail have been effectively closed for the period;
In the US, where we offer online sports betting in four states, we continued to take wagers on alternative activities. Product development has accelerated throughout the period and we will be launching online casino in the second half of the year.
During this time all of our shop colleagues have been furloughed and we are topping up payments to ensure they receive 100% of their pay.