Betr in the black as positive promise is delivered upon

Publicly listed bookmaker betr has delivered on its promise of a positive full-year result, confirming expectations of an EBITDA of around $7 million in a year where it completed a merger and a significant acquisition.

At the start of 2024/25, BlueBet and betr merged, with the new entity later changing its publicly facing and corporate brand to betr. It then undertook an acquisition of TopSport as part of ambitious strategy to build inorganically to at least 10 per cent of the Australian market.

The last quarter of the financial year was dominated by the takeover process involving rival PointsBet, after betr secured 19.9 per cent of that company, which is also at the centre of an acquisition play from Japanese company MIXI.

While the outcome of that planned acquisition remains uncertain, betr has confirmed that its pursuit of PointsBet hasn’t impacted its ambitions to reach profitability, with EBITDA expected to be in the range of $6.9 million to $7.1 million when final results are announced at the end of this month.

In a release to the ASX on Monday, it confirmed it had achieved $25.9 million in annualised synergies following the successful migration of the betr and TopSport customer databases, while had a full-year net win margin of 10.4 per cent.

Betr CEO Andrew Menz said the results pointed towards the company’s ability to scale and build its margin at the same time.

“Betr continues to deliver on every commitment made to the market, with our team’s proven execution capability driving our first EBITDA1 positive year in FY25,” Menz said.

“Delivering on our commitment to profitability while we pursue further accretive M&A shows we are able to deliver exceptional results at speed and underpins our confidence that we are the natural consolidator of the Australian online wagering sector. “

The outcome of the PointsBet bid is as yet unknown, with both MIXI and betr making off-market offers after a shareholder scheme meeting last month voted against the initial MIXI deal. The result of that meeting descended into somewhat of a farce after it was initially announced that MIXI had received enough support, only for betr to protest the result and demand a recount.

Computershare, which conducted the vote, admitted a systems issue at its end, and the matter is being investigated by ASIC.

As of Monday morning, betr shares sit at 27 cents, giving it a market capitalisation of $277 million.