Half Year 2026 FDJ United Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- FDJ United (LFDJF) successfully completed the migration of its French online betting and gaming operations to a single Unibet brand and proprietary platform, a key operational milestone that supports future efficiency.
- The company's digital lottery channel showed strong growth, with high lottery GGR up 6% when excluding EuroMillions long cycles, indicating robust underlying business strength.
- FDJ United (LFDJF) maintained a solid EBITDA margin of 22.7% despite revenue headwinds, driven by effective cost discipline and the ongoing performance plan, which is on track to deliver EUR100 million in savings for 2026.
- The OBG business showed resilience in Q2, with GGR broadly stable and strong performance in France and Scandinavia, while the Netherlands is showing visible recovery with year-on-year decline narrowing from -15% to -4%.
- The FIFA World Cup served as a positive driver, with group stakes reaching EUR700 million and online stakes in France doubling, demonstrating the strength of the company's brands and diversified footprint.
- FDJ United (LFDJF) is advancing its AI transformation strategy, aiming to automate 80% of marketing campaigns by 2028 and 30% of OBG customer communications by 2027, which should drive growth and operational efficiency.
- The company maintains a strong balance sheet with a well-spread debt maturity profile and a confirmed BAA1 investment grade rating from Moody's, providing financial flexibility for growth investments.
- FDJ United (LFDJF) experienced a 4.5% decline in revenue in H1 2026, impacted by a EUR52 million increase in gaming taxes across France, UK, Netherlands, and Romania, which reduced reported revenue.
- The French lottery business was negatively affected by fewer and lower EuroMillions jackpot cycles compared to a high base last year, as well as exceptional heat waves that reduced point-of-sale traffic.
- The OBG business continues to face challenges, particularly in the UK where GGR is down approximately 20% and the action plan is not expected to show results until the end of 2026.
- The company recorded a EUR135 million impairment on tangible assets in OBG, leading to a reported net loss of EUR16 million for the first half.
- Adjusted net income declined by 19% year-on-year to EUR180 million, reflecting the impact of revenue decline and increased taxes on profitability.
- FDJ United (LFDJF) revised its full-year revenue guidance to a low single-digit decline, indicating that the challenging environment is expected to persist through the second half.
- The Netherlands market, while improving, remains in negative territory with GGR still down 4% year-on-year in Q2, and the UK market is not yet profitable enough to offset the impact of gaming tax increases.
Welcome to the FDJ United Half Year 2026 revenue conference call. (Operator Instructions) Now I will hand the conference over to Stephane Pallez, Chairwoman and CEO, and Dan Levy, CFO and Performance Leader. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. So this is Stephen Padell. So good afternoon or good evening, depending on your time zone. Thank you for joining this presentation. So I'm pleased to welcome my son Dan Levy, who has been our UCFCON mosquito since mid-May.
Because, as Pascal Chaffard is now CEO of the OBG business unit and regional transformation leader. So I will start by commenting the key highlights of the first semester before handing over to Dan to give you more details on financial results and of course.
I will conclude with guidance and perspective and we'll of course have a Q&A session. So my message today will be straightforward.
While the first half of this year was affected by a more demanding environment, we remain focused on restoring
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