PointsBet Holdings Limited (PBH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the PointsBet Holdings Limited Fiscal Year 2025 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to CEO, Sam Swanell. You may begin.

Good morning. I would like to thank you for joining this call to present the PointsBet Holdings Limited Full Year 2025 results. This is Sam Swanell, Group CEO, and I'm joined today by our Group CFO, Alister Lui. Today, we will talk to our investor presentation, which was lodged with the ASX this morning, together with our appendix and preliminary financial report. Please note the safe harbor statement in the presentation and that all figures are in Australian dollars unless otherwise stated. Turning to Slide 4. I'll start the call with some comments on the competing takeover offers for PointsBet. MIXI Australia's takeover bid is recommended by the PointsBet Board and is an unconditional all-cash takeover offer of $1.25 per PointsBet share. MIXI Australia, as at August 28, has a relevant interest in 46.72% (sic) [ 47.34% ] of PointsBet and has said it will not accept Betr's offer. The reason why the PointsBet Board has recommended the MIXI transactions are set out in PointsBet's target statement for the MIXI Australia bid, which was released on 24 July 2025. These reasons include that the offer price of $1.25 per share represents an attractive 50.6% cash premium relative to the PointsBet share price prior to the public announcement of the prior scheme of arrangement with MIXI Australia of $0.83. The cash offer provides certainty of value for PointsBet shareholders. Payments for accepting shareholders of their $1.25 per share start today. PointsBet shareholders who would like to receive $1.25 in cash for their PointsBet shares should accept MIXI Australia's offer now before it closes. While the PointsBet directors are unable to predict the price at which PointsBet shares will trade in the future, they consider that if MIXI Australia's offer closes and a superior proposal is not forthcoming, the price of PointsBet shares will likely fall in the short term. Given the current status of the offers for PointsBet, there is a very strong likelihood that MIXI Australia will have effective, if not actual, control of PointsBet at the conclusion of its offer. Betr will, therefore, be a minority shareholder in PointsBet. At the conclusion of MIXI Australia's offer and given that PointsBet and MIXI Australia are not competitors, PointsBet intends to offer MIXI Australia representation on the PointsBet Board commensurate with their shareholding. Moving to Slide 5. In contrast to the Mixie offer, the Betr takeover bid is a hostile, unsolicited, all-scrip proposal with value creation heavily dependent on synergies. MIXI Australia has said it will not accept Betr's offer, which means that Betr will not be able to achieve full control of PointsBet or fully realize the synergies claimed by Betr. The PointsBet Board unanimously recommends all shareholders reject and take no action in relation to the unsolicited Betr scrip offer. The reasons why the PointsBet Board recommends that shareholders reject Betr's offer are set out in PointsBet's target statement for the Betr bid, which was released on 21 August 2025 and the supplementary Betr target statement released yesterday. These reasons include that PointsBet shareholders that accept the unsolicited Betr scrip offer will receive Betr shares and in effect, reduce their economic interest in PointsBet in exchange for an economic interest in the Betr business. The PointsBet Board believes that this will be an unwise choice for PointsBet shareholders as it regards the Betr business as being very inferior to that of PointsBet. Betr's characterization of the unsolicited Betr scrip offer value is flawed and supported by unusual trading activity, placing emphasis on the purported value offer having regard to a Betr capital raising undertaken 4 months ago before the realization that no material synergies would be available. The longer-term value of Betr's unsolicited scrip offer is heavily reliant on significant synergies, which in PointsBet's view have been materially overstated by Betr. Regardless, without Betr having 100% control of PointsBet and with MIXI likely to be the largest shareholder, it would be prudent of PointsBet shareholders to assume there will be no material synergies. Given Mixie already has a relevant interest of 47.34%, it is unlikely that Betr will obtain a relevant interest in 50% or more of PointsBet shares, in which case, there will be no synergies available. Betr has indicated an intention to undertake a selective buyback, but there can be no certainty that the selective buyback will occur with Betr noting that there are currently no binding voting commitments. A large percentage of Betr's overall value at the time would be a minority stake in PointsBet. Under this scenario, Betr would have exhausted its cash reserves and be in a position where it has up to $44 million of external debt in circumstances where Betr has no history of being able to achieve positive cash flow. And the low liquidity of Betr's shares on the ASX means PointsBet shareholders who accept the unsolicited Betr scrip offer may be unable to sell Betr shares on the ASX at or around the prevailing market price. Shareholders can accept the Board recommended MIXI Australia offer today via the online portal or via their stock broker. See the instructions on Slide 6 for assistance. Turning to Slide 8 to now discuss the full year results. Normalized EBITDA for the full year of $11.2 million was a $13 million improvement versus the PCP. This was the first time that the company has achieved group profitability for the full year, and the result falls within the guidance range confirmed on 27 June 2025. The result has been delivered on the back of record revenue delivering growth of 6%, flowing to a 6% increase in gross profit, where a focus on gross profit efficiency helped offset rises in taxes and fees. The group had over 295,800 rolling 12-month cash actives at 30 June 2025, also a new record. The growth in the relative contribution of our mass market recreational segments in both Australia and Canada has been a highlight of FY '25 and is delivering a more diversified and more sustainable revenue base. Turning to Slide 10 for a review of the Australian business performance. In Australia, we achieved a record year of revenue being $218.5 million, up 3% compared to the PCP. This was delivered within an online Australian wagering market that experienced material negative growth demonstrates that we have again gained market share. Gross profit was also a record being $114.5 million, up 2% compared to the PCP. Gross profit growth was slightly slower than net win growth as we absorbed the full year impact of material increases in the Victorian point of consumption tax and increases in some domestic sports product fees, including the AFL. Gross win margin was 13.6%, which is a 1.8 percentage points improvement on the PCP and is in the upper end of our expected range. We benefited from higher-than-expected margins in racing and continued strengthening of sports margins as we sell more higher-margin multi- and same game multi products to our growing mass market client base. Net win margin of 10.4% is a 1.7 percentage point increase on PCP and reflects a structural improvement in our business to net win margins of over 10%. Net win margin exceeded 10% for each of the 4 quarters in FY '25 and represents a run of 6 consecutive quarters above the new benchmark. Net win margins also continue to improve as we increase the efficiency of how we allocate promotions. Our promotion spend as a percentage of gross win improved to 23.6%, down from 26% in the PCP. Marketing spend was also more efficient. Total marketing expenses were $42.1 million, down 7% on the PCP. Statutory segment EBITDA for the year was $30.1 million, up 12% on the PCP and constituted record EBITDA performance for the Australian business. We've now delivered positive full year EBITDA in Australia for the past 6 financial years. Moving to Slide 11. In FY '25, PointsBet Australia paid $115.3 million in GST point of consumption tax and product fees to Australian governments and racing and sports bodies. This represented 47.9% of our net win for the year -- 47.9% of our net win for the year. PointsBet remains active in encouraging the wagering industry, governments, sports bodies and media to promptly resolve sustainable and pragmatic advertising reform, which is likely now that the federal election has passed. For over a year, we have consistently argued that this reform should lean into the very real potential of digital and social media platforms to deliver sign-in, age gating, opt-in and out and volume and frequency caps to consenting adults. The implementation of the federal government's requirement to limit access to social media for Australians over the age of 16 years is a step towards a sustainable framework for categories that can only service adults like wagering. Turning to Slide 13 to discuss the Canadian trading business. We delivered strong full year turnover growth versus the PCP across both sports and iGaming, which translated into net win of $43 million, representing growth of 26% versus the PCP. Net win grew in line with the overall Ontario market, thus maintaining PointsBet's net win market share. Sports betting achieved net win of $17 million, up 11% versus the PCP despite unprecedented customer-friendly NFL results negatively impacting net win by circa $2.9 million in H1, with trading margins now improving in H2. iGaming delivered a net win of $26 million, increasing by 39% versus the PCP despite a $1 million negative variance on slots in H1. Our iGaming offering expanded significantly in FY '25 with a number of content providers expanding from 4 to 15 and the games catalog growing more than 3x to over 1,000 titles. The expansion of content, particularly in market-leading slots games helped drive iGaming gross win margins to 2.8% in H2 and 2.5% for the full year. 12-month rolling cash active clients grew strongly to 58,400, up 30% on the PCP with an increasing number of customers playing both sports betting and iGaming products in turn driving higher retention and higher customer lifetime values. The Canadian statutory segment EBITDA of negative $15.1 million represents a 24% improvement on the PCP despite the material impact of the negative variance in H1. Adjusting for this variance, net win grew by circa 38% in Canada in FY '25. Our Canadian business finishes the year with a reduced reliance on high staking clients, a more diversified revenue base and revenue growth momentum. We expect Alberta to go live in Q4 of FY '26 and for the regulated Canadian market to provide continued market growth tailwinds. I will now hand to Al Lui to review the FY '25 group financial performance.

Thank you, Sam. Turning to Slide 15 for the normalized results. Please note, there is also a summary of our statutory group segment results and a reconciliation of the normalized group results to statutory on Slides 20 to 22. The group recorded revenue of $261.4 million, an increase of 6% versus the PCP and an EBITDA result of $11.2 million, which is a $13 million improvement on the PCP. The group recorded a gross profit of $137 million, up from $129.6 million versus the PCP at a gross profit margin of 52.4%. The gross profit margin of 52.4% was down 0.4 percentage points on the PCP. The group was able to offset the impact of Victorian point of consumption tax increases and increases in AFL product fees through increased net win efficiency. Marketing expense in Australia was $42.1 million, down 7% on the PCP. And marketing expense in Canada was $20.5 million or CAD 18.5 million, down 19% on the PCP. Both jurisdictions benefited from improved marketing efficiency whilst growing global actives to 295,800. Product technology expense has normalized higher than the PCP post the completion of the sale of the U.S. business and demonstrates the significant ongoing investment we are making to deliver our top-tier product in Australia and Canada. Administration and other expenses were down $0.9 million or 10% on the PCP due to cost savings achieved post sale of the U.S. business. Turning to Slide 16. At 30 June 2025, the company had $22.7 million in corporate cash and net assets of $6.0 million. Turning to Slide 17. Net cash inflows from operating activities were $17.1 million. Net operating cash flows, excluding movement in player cash accounts, was $13.6 million, $7 million higher than the net operating inflows of $6.6 million in the PCP. Total cash receipts from customers was $283.6 million, which included $257.6 million from Sportsbook and $26.0 million from iGaming. Net investing outflows were $17.9 million. The company continues to invest in product and technology to power our top-tier product in both Australia and Canada. Net financing outflows were $0.9 million. I'll now hand it back to Sam.

Thanks, Al. That concludes the presentation. Please let us know if there are any questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Rohan Sundram with MST Financial.