ATGATG declares it successfully navigated prevalent industry challenges to achieve growth in 2023, despite grappling with escalated prices, heightened interest rates, and the looming recession, all of which directly impacted consumers’ expenditure.
Although these adversities influenced the company’s performance throughout the year, ATG managed to sustain growth.
While total group revenue saw a marginal decline to SEK6.04 billion, net gaming revenue exhibited a 0.9% upturn, reaching SEK5.27 billion.
CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth attributed the commendable results to the company’s expanding operations.
He emphasised the consistency of ATG’s customer base, which maintained a steady level of approximately 1.3 million players.
Expressing pride in the 2023 figures, Skarplöth remarked, “ATG had growth when the total gambling market landed at plus or minus zero.
All this during a year when there is great concern in our world over high prices, interest rates and recession, which affect our customers’ gaming wallets.
In tough times, it is gratifying to see that our 1.3 million customers are still with us.”
Examining ATG’s performance across its divisions, while horse racing remained the primary revenue generator at SEK3.91 billion, it experienced a 3.0% decline compared to the previous year.
Conversely, sports betting revenue surged by 11.0% year-on-year to SEK722 million, while casino revenue soared by 20.0%.
In terms of costs, although gaming tax decreased to SEK1.06 billion, personnel costs rose by 11.2% to SEK588 million.
Other expenses witnessed a 6.0% reduction to SEK2.36 billion, alongside a decline in depreciation and write-downs of intangible and tangible fixed assets, down by 3.6% to SEK315 million.
Despite encountering growth in Q4, Skarplöth remains cautious about proposed tax amendments in Sweden, particularly the intended hike in the gambling tax rate from 18% to 22% of gross gaming revenue, slated to take effect from 1 July 2024.
Skarplöth warns of detrimental impacts not only on ATG but also on the broader Swedish horse industry, advocating for an alternative tax restructuring to safeguard both the industry’s viability and public health interests.