News Detail

Preliminary unaudited results for year ended 2016: ZEAL outperforms guidance, driven by strong customer acquisition and activity

• Impressive growth in fourth quarter
• Total Operating Performance and EBIT ahead of full-year guidance

(London, 1 March 2017)

Quarter 4 2016

ZEAL's impressive growth in the period was supported by intensified marketing activities and a favourable jackpot situation. This led to successful customer acquisition and a strong conversion to paying users, resulting in a Statutory EBIT of EUR 14.7 million.

Normalised¹ Revenue of EUR 39.2 million was up 7% on last year, with the B2C segment contributing a robust 8% growth. Normalised EBIT of EUR 16.2 million is up 36% on last year, which demonstrates the strong underlying health of the business.

Full Year 2016

ZEAL generated EUR 37.9 million in Statutory EBIT in 2016 despite jackpot pay-outs above the statistical average. This was ahead of guidance (EUR25-35m). Previous year's Statutory EBIT was EUR 42.9 million. ZEAL generated a Total Operating Performance of EUR 139.6 million, which was ahead of the guided range of EUR 125-135 million (PY: EUR 141.0 million).

Normalised EBIT amounted to EUR 50.7 million; an increase of 8% on EUR 47.1 million in 2015. Normalised revenue of EUR 145.5 million was up from EUR 141.2 million, with the B2C segment growing at 5%. The results were driven by continued growth in customer activity in 2016.

Jonas Mattsson, Chief Financial Officer of ZEAL: "We see positive trends, giving us confidence that our growth strategy is delivering value. Despite increased investments in marketing and the impact of prize pay-outs, we have been able to achieve a strong EBIT for the full year. We are pleased to report that we were able to outperform our revised guidance for the key metrics of our business."

ZEAL is currently working on a strong pipeline of tangible opportunities across both segments, B2C and B2B/B2G, which should result in further growth of the business in 2017.

Helmut Becker, Chief Executive Officer of ZEAL: "We are very pleased with the strong growth in customer activity, which is also reflected in our preliminary financials. ZEAL was able to acquire significantly more paying customers. This confirms the attractiveness of our products and the effectiveness of our marketing activities. The excellent performance during the year has established a strong foundation for 2017."

As announced on 26 January 2017, ZEAL expects full year Total Operating Performance to be EUR 145-155 million and full year EBIT to be EUR 30-40 million.

ZEAL will publish its audited annual results for 2016 on 24 March 2017.

Selected Data (preliminary unaudited figures)

¹ - The term 'normalised' refers to the figure that ZEAL would have achieved if the jackpot pay-out had been in line with statistical expectation.

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