evoke has celebrated retail growth in the third quarter of 2025, but significant hurdles appear on the horizon as the looming prospects of UK tax increases threaten to derail the retail momentum of the operator.
The upward trajectory was fuelled by the impact of new gaming machines. Yet, the optimism could be short-lived for the William Hill, 888 and Mr Green operator when the Labour government unveils the November budget next month.
The group has already expressed that UK tax proposals could force the operator to close between 120 and 200 William Hill betting shops, putting up to 1,500 jobs at risk. This will be of significant concern for the operator given the strength and investment it has placed in its retail performance.
Yet, when reflecting on the period ahead, CEO Per Widerström was positive and avoided that speculation.
“We have clear plans in place to support an improvement in revenue during Q4 through continued acceleration in product enhancements, including retail sports and our recently launched new William Hill Vegas app,” stated Widerström.
“We are also making ongoing improvements to our customer lifecycle management capabilities. Alongside this, the improvements we have made to the operating model and efficiencies in our cost base mean we remain confident of achieving our implied Adjusted EBITDA guidance, which would outperform market expectations.
“We continue to execute our turnaround with vigour and are making good progress against our plans to position evoke for long-term success and significant value creation.”
Like many other operators in the UK, evoke will be waiting patiently for the government’s decision on gambling tax before making any decisions on its operations.
However, the headwinds for its retail operations appear to be a thing of the past, at least for now.
Retail bounce back
Retail returned to growth in Q3 for evoke, as operations in the segment rose by 6% year-over-year to £54.6m (Q3 2024: £51.5m).
Betting revenue grew by 6% YoY to £67.1m due to weaker previous year win margins (2024: £63.1m), while gaming revenue increased by 6% YoY to £54.6m as well, supported by new gaming cabinets being integrated earlier in the year (2024: £51.5m).
Group revenue rose by 5% YoY to £435m (2024: £416.6m), a fifth consecutive quarter of YoY revenue growth as all three divisions recorded revenue increases during the period.
evoke added that contribution is “growing faster than revenue in line with the group’s focus on sustainable, profitable growth, and enhancing profitability through better return on marketing”.
UK&I online only achieved a 1% YoY revenue growth to £163.3m (2024: £162.4m), as an 8% increase in betting was offset by a 2% dip in gaming revenues. The operator explained that 888’s performance continues to be a drag on growth as marketing has been reduced to target higher marketing returns with double-digit contribution growth across both brands.
During the period, evoke launched a free-to-play game, Final One Standing, an omni-channel offering Acca Boost, as well as made improvements to Bet Builder and went live with a new William Hill Vegas app, boosting player engagement and experience.
International revenue improved by 8% YoY to £150.4m (2024: £139.7m) following double-digit growth in Italy, Denmark and Romania, being offset by a drop in performance in Spain and non-core international markets.
888 Romania completed its migration to the local Winner platform, with migrations and upgrades also occurring in Denmark on its in-house platform. Market share continued to be gained in Italy in casino operations, while gaps were filled with its sports product on the Exalogic platform.
Widerström noted: “During Q3, we continued to execute against our strategy, which is transforming our long-term competitive capabilities and building a more efficient and profitable business.
“With Retail continuing the improving trend from Q2, all three divisions were in growth during the quarter. Whilst our refined approach to UK Online marketing to drive improved profitability slightly held back our top-line performance, we are pleased to have recorded our fifth consecutive quarter of profitable growth.”
Looking ahead, evoke continues to execute its strategy, improving profitability to produce an efficient operating model. The group has reiterated its FY25 guidance of achieving at least a 20% adjusted EBITDA margin, in addition to delivering an adjusted EBITDA result ahead of current market expectations.
Medium-term financial targets remain at 5% to 9% annual revenue growth, approximately 100bps of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion per year, and leverage below 3.5x by the end of 2027.
