Evoke Plc has expressed confidence in meeting its short and medium-term strategic goals as part of its ongoing recovery and value creation plan, following a strong financial performance in the first half of 2025.

The LSE gambling group reported adjusted post-tax profits of £5.4m, reflecting a significant turnaround from a £29.9m loss in H1 2024, and highlighted improved profitability across its core brands, notably William Hill.

Group revenues for H1 2025 stood at £888m, marking a 3% increase on 2024 comparatives of £862m. Giving leadership confidence of further growth, Evoke’s new operating model saw H1 EBITDA treble to £141m (H12024: £44m).

H1 accounts posted a statutory loss of £64.7 million, as metrics narrow on the £143m loss reported in H1 2024. Leadership attributed account losses to transformative expenditures, debt repayments, and amortisation items of legacy 888 and William Hill assets.

As previously cited, leadership continues to prioritise deleveraging, having reduced its debt leverage ratio to 5.0x from 6.7x the previous year, as Evoke holds £121m in available cash and £250m in total liquidity.

Retail lays groundwork for growth

In a prior snapshot into H1 earnings, Evoke asserted that its retail performance had rebounded well during the first half of the year, with its retail division – largely consisting of William HIll’s 1,400 UK betting shops – struggling quarter-after-quarter.

Revenue for the segment remained down in H1 2025, having dropped 2.4% from £258.4m to £252.2m while EBITDA for the segment was down even more substantially by 22.1% from £38m to £29.6m. This reflects a general trend in the UK which has seen many customers move from the retail to online betting spaces.

Evoke asserts that there is light at the end of the tunnel, however. The firm states its William Hill-driven retail segment is returning to growth after some tough trading in 2024, reiterating that the rollout of 5,000 new gaming machines in Q2 returned the betting shop business to growth at the end of H1.

The company has acknowledged that William Hill shops require further upgrades, however. Per Widerström, Evoke CEO, reflected that ‘while we have made strong progress in gaming, we acknowledge that our sports performance has lagged slightly’.

“This is primarily due to historical underinvestment in our self-service betting terminals (SSBTs), where the user experience has not kept pace with market standards,” he said.

“In H2, we are investing to address this through terminal upgrades, improved UX, and increased SSBT density in key locations. Combined with enhancements in pricing, promotions, and in-store experience, we believe this will strengthen our competitive position.”

The company’s comments may give more hope to the UK retail sector, which has been struggling with the aforementioned online transition as well as the lingering effects of COVID era lockdowns. This has continued to bite into other companies’ performances, like Entain, which saw retail revenue drop 2% although this was more than compensated by online growth.

Hills and 888 – different strategic journeys

At a glance, Evoke’s online performance remains stagnant, having dropped 1% to £336.2m (£338.6m). However, Widerström reiterated that Evoke is focusing on profitability and not ‘growth at any cost’ – and this comes across in online EBITDA, up 37.3% to £60m (£43.7m).

“This reflects improved marketing efficiency, a sharper focus on customer value over volume, and the impact of structural cost reductions,” Widerström remarked, citing the firm’s Customer Lifecycle Management (CLCM) as having a good impact on online betting marketing.

However, UK&I online performance did see differing experiences for Evoke’s two main online sportsbook brands, William Hill and 888sport. William Hill had ‘good momentum’ according to Evoke’s CEO, citing upgrades to sports and gaming, UX, and the William Hill Vegas app

888, meanwhile, saw revenue drop. Evoke states that this is due to changes in 888’s marketing, with the group moving to remove ‘unprofitable marketing’. Similar to its retail performance, Evoke is confident that some positive signs were seen towards the end of the H1 and that its 888 brand is ‘seeing encouraging contribution growth’.

Euro growth, now enter Africa

Evoke attributed the international uplift to reduced bonus costs, platform migration efficiencies, and a strategic exit from the US B2C market in 2024. The contribution margin in the international division improved sharply to 46.9%, up from 38.5% in the prior year.

Italy operations continue to outperform local competitors through Evoke’s 888casino brand, boosting supplier integrations and leveraging the rollout of its proprietary Section8 content.

Spanish growth (6% YoY) maintained momentum particularly through gaming, but headwinds in sports proposition did lead to a ‘modest share loss’. Romanian revenue tripled thanks to last year’s acquisition of the Winner brand (up 28% You excluding Winner).

Total international revenue from the four core markets (Italy, Spain, Denmark, Romania) was up 13% YoY to £299.4m, with Adjusted EBITDA of £86m. All four markets now represent 71% of company accounts.

In addition to European activities, Evoke has further investment planned for 888AFRICA, its joint venture targeting key African markets like Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia, and which has already been expanded by M&A in recent years.

“We continued to invest behind the 888AFRICA joint venture in the year, which continues to perform well as it looks to build leading positions in selected regulated African markets,” said Widerström. We are excited by the potential of this joint venture and we look forward to expanding on its success in the future.”

AI upgrades begin

From H2 onwards, Evoke cites that it will begin its acceleration of technology advancements led by investment in AI and Automation, with a deep focus on enhancing Compliance journeys and to improve customer lifecycles.

“We’ve made substantial progress deploying AI and automation across our business, particularly in marketing and customer segmentation. These capabilities are directly translating into stronger ROI and increased average revenue per user, which rose 11% year-on-year,” Widerström commented.

Evoke reiterated its full-year guidance, projecting revenue growth of between 5-to-9% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%. Management said trading as of August remains in line with expectations and anticipates a stronger H2 performance, supported by seasonal uplift, continued international momentum, and a pipeline of product enhancements across both online and retail divisions.

“We remain confident in our guidance,” said Widerström. “We have the brand strength, the leadership focus, and the technical foundations to deliver profitable, sustainable growth across our portfolio.”

“We’ve laid strong foundations in the first half,” added Widerström. “Now the focus is on accelerating momentum, executing with precision, and delivering the kind of sustainable growth that will reward our shareholders over the long term.”

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