Evoke to cut costs further as it cautions over a slow start to 2025

William Hill gambling group Evoke has revealed aims to slash costs further over the year ahead to offset soaring wage costs and cautioned over slower sales growth at the start of 2025.

The group said it would strip out between £15 million and £25 million in 2025, which it said would more than offset a £10 million expected hit this year from the rise in national insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage increase.

Evoke – which rebranded from 888 last year – reported widened annual pre-tax losses for 2024, at £168.8 million, against losses of £130.1 million the year before.

It said on an underlying basis, earnings rose 4% to £312.5 million as revenues lifted 3% to £1.75 billion, with sales having returned to growth for the first time in almost three years in the third quarter of last year.

But the group expects revenue growth to be in the low single digits over the first few months of 2025 – lower than its full year target for 5% to 9% – as it sees the impact of safer gambling measures introduced at the end of last year.

Earnings are still set to increase by £18 million to £28 million quarter on quarter in the three months to March 31, as cost savings actions and lower marketing spend boost its bottom line.

Per Widerstrom, chief executive of Evoke, said: “I was delighted to see the results of our transformation start to materialise during the year.”

He added: “Whilst a transformation of this scale is never easy, I am pleased with the strong progress we made during the year.”

The group said it had seen a “high number of redundancies” in 2024 as it overhauled the business and stripped out more than £45 million in costs, focusing on a drive towards artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

It added: “We continue to review further opportunities to streamline our business and enhance efficiency.”

Evoke has been in the doldrums and brought in Mr Widerstrom in October 2023 to turn the company around.

It owns owns gambling brands including 888poker, 888casino and 888sport, as well as the William Hill shops.

The company spent much of 2024 rejigging the geographical focus of the business to focus on its core markets as well as what products it prioritises.

That included selling its consumer-facing 888 gambling business in the US to gaming and betting company Hard Rock Digital.

The group’s chain of betting shops saw revenues drop 5% over 2024, but this was offset by a 6% rise in online gambling sales.