Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics SA

ATHEX:OPAP

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Galli, your conference call operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the OPAP S.A. Conference Call and live webcast question-and-answer session to discuss the First Quarter 2022 Financial Results. Please note, a video presentation has been distributed and is also available on the OPAP Investor Relations website. All participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jan Karas, CEO of OPAP S.A. Mr. Karas, you may now proceed.

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you, very much. Good evening and or good morning to everyone and welcome to our regular Q1 2022 results conference call. I’m delighted to share with you another set of solid results of OPAP resulting from online contribution and encouraging retail performance despite some COVID related restrictions and macro environment affecting our Q1.

Lift of the green pass since May 1, and first mask mandate as of today we are expected to further aid walk-ins. Hopefully you have reviewed the results recorded video we shared with you earlier today, so we will jump directly to our Q&A session.

Galli, over to you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we will begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Stamatios Draziotis with EuroBank Equities. Please go ahead.

[Stamatios Draziotis, EuroBank Equities]

Yes hello there, thank you for taking my questions. I have three things to ask if I may please. Firstly, I was just wondering whether you are happy with the guidance you have provided back in March and you still believe this stability range is still feasible?

Secondly, you mentioned in the presentation that VLT run rates have improved since the easing of the sections and I’m just wondering among the other games have you noted any sort of change in punters’ behavior in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine and the mounting inflationary pressures, for example, has there been any in some footfall on spending, recycling, active accounts since Q1 that is causing any concern?

And lastly, just on the bill you recently announced the sale of the minority interest in Betano, could you confirm what you intend to do with the cash and when do you expect the transaction to close?

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes, so we will -- thank you for the question. We will answer all three of them. I will start with the first one referring to our outlook. So we have explained the rationale for providing outlook this year last time when we presented. Given the quite challenging and volatile environment we thought that we would be transparent and therefore we thought it will be helpful when we envisaged the Group performance based with certain assumptions that we presented.

Now as of today, following strong Q1, we still think that our outlook is valid. So we confirmed that outlook that we had presented to you in the previous quarter call, obviously we are not yet seeing any stabilization of geopolitical tension, neither any improvement on the inflationary front. So despite that, we are still optimistic and positive and confident, maybe with the high end of the range to be a bit challenging.

In any case, we will come back with our updated view on this whole macro situation and its impact on our business as we always do at our next quarterly call after the after the summer. So you can, rest assured that we will keep you updated on that front.

The second question was related to what performance we see currently? Again, connected with the previous topic, there is quite a few factors influencing the existing performance. So it it's a bit difficult to read the specific factor here, namely the green pass measures you referred to and its impact because we need to have the big picture here.

There is macro -- there is inflation. Those are certainly factors that are not helping the combination of the work conflict. On the other hand, we need to keep in mind many of the positive trends. You mentioned green pass. We already see some positive impact of it, think of single digit or mid-single digit impact. But very importantly, as I have mentioned just a second ago, the June 1st today is the first day when the masks are not mandatory anymore.

So if we keep in mind the very important customer perspective, the mask still played a role also in May and that is something we are excited to see what impact it will have really to normal situation now in our stores going forward. So we remain optimistic about farther positive impacts and evolution also connected with the positive expectations of everyone from the, what is expected to be very strong touristic season and its macro impact.

On the third question, I will kindly ask Pavel to answer to you.

[Pavel Mucha, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Officer]

Good afternoon from me. We expect the transaction to close somewhere within Q3. It is still subject to regulatory approvals and also corporate separation of the Betano business from the Greece and Cyprus business, so the expectation is Q3. And the proceeds will be used to finance the last part of Stoiximan announced during 2022 and the remaining to be distributed.

[Stamatios Draziotis, EuroBank Equities]

That's great. Thank you so much. And just to follow up on the current running rate question on the retail part of the business, I guess, from what you are saying, it makes sense to expect an improvement in terms of run rates in the retail business vis-à-vis 2019 levels, right? So Q4 was down 13% if I remember correctly versus normality, let's call it. Q1 was down 10%. Is it a fair assumption to make that these trends ought to improve as these COVID related measures get relaxed and probably more than offset the macroeconomic impact?

[Pavel Mucha, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Officer]

Yes. Your thinking is correct and we have expectations that are positive. Obviously we all know in how difficult times macro economy we live. So the reality remains to be seen, but if we don't face any unpleasant surprises, the trends that we expect are certainly in the positive direction.

[Stamatios Draziotis, EuroBank Equities]

That's fantastic. Thank you so much.

[Pavel Mucha, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Officer]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Memisoglu Osman with Ambrosia Capital. Please go ahead.

[Osman Memisoglu, Ambrosia Capital]

Hello, many thanks for your time and the presentation. Going back to -- so two on my side, one on VLT, one on online, just following up on your presentation, the 4% comes across as a bit subdued, but maybe you're expected to pick up with the masks being lifted from June 1. And also, maybe you're seeing some impact from a macro angle, so you would have recovered more? I guess that's the first bit.

And then the second one, you did have the retail opening, so I understand, I appreciate online coming down. How do you see the rest of the quarters for online? Should we see a return back to growth in Q2? And related to this, how is your market share coming along? Obviously it's some new entrants are there, any color on that front would be helpful? And finally, on online, any news, any update on when we should see benefits in the financials from your new products, plans in the online segment? Thank you.

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

Let me start with the first question around VLT’s performance. VLT is a typical vertical where we certainly have farther positive expectations, not just short-term, but also mid to long-term but farther opportunities to be explored with VLTs. We see VLTs improving every day. So I think that's a vertical that will certainly benefit the most from the masks being lifted. Because if you just imagine the practical situation of spending quite an extensive amount of time in the gaming hall, sitting there with the mask or without the masks makes quite a big difference in engagement of customers. So we have positive hopes there and the performance -- and the performance in last couple of weeks is confirming that with steady growth. So there is hopefully more to be seen. So that's on your first questions question.

On the online, can you please repeat your question because you were asking about market share?

[Osman Memisoglu, Ambrosia Capital]

Yes. Yes, well, it's related to growth really. So we had a decline in Q1 and I appreciate that it was a very different operating environment in last year's first quarter, but with potentially competitive side moving around as well, just wanted to get your thoughts on how we should expect online to perform in Q2? Are you seeing a return back to growth? So both overall demand you know, the dynamics between retail and online and also your market share performance? And you had mentioned, I think in earlier calls some work being done on new products. Any update on that, when should we see some material benefits from that? Thank you.

[Pavel Mucha, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Officer]

Okay. Well we've seen the new regime, new regulatory regime since the August new players entering the markets. In that period we managed really recently to double the market share of OPAP from 3% to 6%. We've launched a live casino which is doing very well and with very good product combined with Stoiximan we are holding at the level of 50% market share between OPAP and Stoiximan. The market continues to grow and we are holding the share, the whole online business is growing and expected to continue to grow.

You were asking about the dynamic between retail and online. While the online is growing, obviously we are trying to keep or grow also the retail. We have to bear in mind that these are not too mutually exclusive markets like online and retail, that the players would be leaving retail and moving to online permanently. We have like one and a half million players who are multichannel. They are playing both in online on different occasions, but they are still coming to the shops for different reasons and that will continue to be there. So that's really a bit about the dynamics between retail and online.

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you, Pavel. So to add some more flavor, you asked about the innovations and how we continue. I think the most important one as presented in my deck was the Tzoker.gr update is another confirmation of commitment to develop really highly competitive and highly attractive customer attractive front end and user interfaces. So we are very proud of what we have achieved with Tzoker.gr which is now the second after the casino that we have done at the end of last year. And that's a journey that we continue and pay a lot of attention and a lot of focus too. There is more to come, but for that you will need to wait for the next call.

[Osman Memisoglu, Ambrosia Capital]

Understood. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Chauhan Virendra with Alpha Value. Please go ahead.

[Virendra Chauhan, Alpha Value]

Yes. Just following up on the question by the previous analyst, I'm…

[Operator]

I’m sorry, Mr. Chauhan, can you hear me? I apologize to interrupt you. I'm sorry. Can you please speak a little closer to your microphone, because I don't think management can hear you.

[Virendra Chauhan, Alpha Value]

Yes is this better now?

[Operator]

Yes, thank you so much.

[Virendra Chauhan, Alpha Value]

Can you hear me?

[Operator]

Yes. Thank you so much. Yes, thank you, you may proceed. Thank you.

[Virendra Chauhan, Alpha Value]

Yes. So just following up on the question regarding online market shares, so if I understood your reply to the previous question, you said OPAP has been taking market share. So could you just give us a sense of what has happened in the broader Greek online market in terms of a growth perspective in Q1, like how much was the overall market up or down on a year-on-year basis?

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

If you're referring to Q1 performance specifically, we don't have such a data. There's no such data available and published. You would have to speak to AGC on that. So I apologize, I can't answer.

[Virendra Chauhan, Alpha Value]

Okay. No problem. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Jan Karas for any closing comments. Thank you.

[Jan Karas, Chief Executive Officer]

I'm sorry. Thank you very much. I apologize. We didn't expect this such a quick finish, but I hope it's an indication that we have provided a great presentation and covered your questions during our presentations. Thank you very much even for those questions placed here today. It was a pleasure to be with you. Be safe, enjoy your summer, and we will be looking forward to talking to you again in September for our Q2, 2022 results, and/or during our General Assembly Meeting very soon. Thank you and have a great day. Bye-bye. Thank you moderator.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling and have a good afternoon.