Gaming and betting leader evoke, formerly known as 888, has issued a report containing its preliminary unaudited financial results for 2024. The company’s business remained mostly stable, although its stock continued to struggle.

The Financials Showed Recovery But the Shares Struggled

In 2024, the company behind William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, reported revenue of £1.75 billion ($2.25 billion), up 3% year-on-year. For comparison, the company reported revenue of £1.71 billion in 2023.

In the meantime, adjusted EBITDA increased 4% year-on-year to £312.5 million ($402.5 million). Adjusted EBITDA for the previous year stood at £299.5 million.

Despite its effective efforts to improve its profitability, evoke found itself struggling when it came to narrowing loss or bolstering its share price. Loss after tax reached £191.4 million ($246.5 million), up from £65.2 million for 2024. At the same time, evoke’s loss per share increased 194% to £42.7 million ($55 million).

2024 Was a Transformational Year

The recovered revenue and EBITDA reflected the success of the goals evoke’s set for itself at the end of the first half of the year. Its intense transformation efforts, which also saw it rebranded to evoke, also delivered significant improvements in the company’s financials, despite the continued setbacks.

Among other things, the company’s online business in the UK and Ireland returned to growth, in part thanks to favorable Q4 sports results. The international online business continued to experience significant growth too.

In terms of its retail operations, evoke faced strong competition but managed to keep its business somewhat stable despite a slight decline in revenue in H1.

The company’s cash optimization program allowed it to save some £30 million ($38.6 million) of recurring savings, as well as £15 million ($19.3 million) in savings.

Evoke’s strategy included the divesting of less profitable assets, such as its US-facing digital business, and the acquisition of assets in markets evoke is actively interested in, such as Winner.ro in Romania.

The Company Is Confident in Its Outlook

In its report, evoke said that it expects low single-digit growth in Q1, which would be lower than its 5-9% growth target. The company attributed its amended outlook to a variety of headwinds, including impacted Q1 volumes and mixed success of its promotional initiatives. However, it reaffirmed its 5-9% growth expectations for the full year.

Q1 2025 adjusted EBITDA, on the other hand, is expected to increase by £18-20 million YOY, taking LTM adjusted EBITDA to £330-340 million ($425.1-438 million).

Evoke’s CEO Praised the Results

Per Widerström, evoke’s chief executive officer, commented on the results, calling 2024 a “pivotal year” for the company. He weighed in on the radical transformations, saying that almost every area of the business has been made more sustainable, profitable and cash-generative.

Widerström was excited to see evoke return to profitability in Q3 2025 for the first time in almost three years and said that the company will seek to maintain its growing momentum. He added that growth in the UK, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Denmark will remain evoke’s core priority.

2025 is shaping up to be another exciting year for evoke. While Q1 revenue growth is expected to be low single digit, we remain highly confident in our full year expectations of 5-9% growth in addition to driving further margin expansion as a result of our more efficient operating model.
Per Widerström, CEO, evoke

Widerström concluded that his team will continue to execute plans to generate shareholder value.