(AOF) – FL Entertainment announces adjusted net income of 70.2 million euros for the 1st quarter, up 5.3% year on year. The group founded by Stéphane Courbit, specialist in multimedia content and gambling with its subsidiaries Banijay and Betclic Everest Group, posted a turnover up 1.1% to 900.2 million euros and an adjusted Ebitda stable at 144.6 million euros. The Group reconfirms all of its financial objectives, both short and medium term, underlining the success of the refinancing of Banijay’s debt (approximately 875 million euros).
The content production and distribution activity fell by 3.1%, “reflecting the return to normalized seasonality after the post-Covid catch-up in content production in the 1st quarter of 2022”, while the sports betting activity and online games grew by 14.5% thanks to a significant increase in the number of unique active players, partially offset by the unfavorable results of football in February 2023”.
“We are well positioned to strengthen our leadership, seize acquisition opportunities in structurally growing markets in 2023 and continue to generate profitable growth in 2023 and beyond,” concludes François Riahi, CEO of FL Entertainment.
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Sector analysis Communication and Media
French players well positioned in audiovisual production
Among the independent players, the Frenchman Banijay is the world leader with an expected turnover of 3 billion euros in 2022 in a market which represents 100 billion in revenue. Mediawan (backed by the KKR fund), whose turnover amounts to 1 billion euros, is the other main French player in the sector. The market is still very fragmented because according to the European Audiovisual Observatory, the top twenty production groups were responsible for only 38% of titles created in 2020. However, experts believe that the sector has entered a phase consolidation. Thus Banijay’s stock market listing aims to enable it to better participate in this movement.