Kindred Group has stated its intention to contribute to a “sustainable gambling business in the Netherlands” following the filing of a license in the country, as the gambling group reflected on “its best year to date” despite a hard fourth quarter.

Kindred releases 4Q Report

Faced with strong headwinds, including difficult comparatives and the discontinuation of Dutch services, the firm maintained its headline performance despite a 32.8 percent decline in revenue to £364.7 million in the final quarter of 2021 (2020: £244.9 million).

As a result, and with revenue in the group’s ‘casino and games’ and ‘poker and other goods’ segments declining 25% and 27%, respectively, the group’s underlying EBITDA fell 77% to £27.6 million (2020: £118 million). Despite the severe impact of the Dutch opt-out on Kindred’s performance across Western Europe, with Q4 revenue falling 48 percent to £122.9 million (2020: £238.3 million), Kindred continues to build its active client base in the UK (+8%) and Belgium (+9%).

Elsewhere, the company retained a competitive edge in Scandinavian countries, growing its online casino sector despite interim COVID-19 deposit limits in Sweden. Western Europe accounted for 51% of overall group revenue in the fourth quarter, followed by the Nordics (31%), Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe (12%), and ‘other’ (6%). On 31 December 2021, the total number of registered customers in the group’s B2C business was around 31.9 million (2020: 29.7 million), up from over 31.4 million as of September 30, 2021.

2021 delivers £295.3 after tax profit

However, the Q4 impact did not derail Kindred’s full-year financial performance, with revenue of £1.259 billion, up 11% on FY2020 results of £1.130 billion, and underlying EBITDA increasing 15% to £332 million (2020: £288 million). Kindred estimates profit after tax of £295.3 million, up 78% from £165.2 million in the previous year. Moving forward, the firm stated that it will be strengthened by the completion of its acquisition of Relax Gaming, which it claimed would assist expand and diversify its B2B offerings. Up to and including February 6, 2022, average daily gross income climbed by 26%, somewhat less than the average for the entire first quarter of 2021. This was consistent with the previous year, except for the Netherlands.