B2C revenue was driven principally by the Snaitech brand in Italy at €584.7m.
B2B revenue was split more evenly across the globe, with the UK, Mexico and the Philippines delivering €132.2m, €90.3m and €67.6m, respectively.
Other key markets for B2B included Malta, Italy and Gibraltar, which generated €52.3m, €30.7m and €27.9m, respectively.
A variety of markets around the world delivered the remainder, including Spain, Netherlands, Colombia, Romania and Norway – in addition to €60.2m from the supplier’s Rest of World segment, which includes Latam and its budding US operations.
Playtech said its overall growth was driven by “very strong” online performance, more than offsetting the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns which, for instance, had a negative impact on the retail revenue of Playtech’s business in Italy.
The supplier ended the year with EBITDA of €281.3m, an increase of 26.2% over 2020.
Thanks to a further €583.2m in unrealised fair value changes of derivative financial assets – relating to options held by Playtech in various Latam-facing businesses including Caliente in Mexico and Wplay in Colombia – the company declared full-year profit before taxation of €605.0m, up from a €52.7m net loss in 2020.
After an income tax credit worth €81.7m, Playtech declared overall profit from continuing operations of €686.7m. Following a loss from discontinued operations of €12.1m, including the Finalto financial trading division sold to Gopher, this left an overall profit for the year of €674.6m, compared to a €297.4m loss in 2020.The firm ended 2021 with total assets of €3.65bn, up from €3.07bn at the end of 2020.
“Our full year results demonstrate the quality of Playtech’s technology and the momentum across the group,” said Playtech CEO Mor Weizer.
“Our strong performance is underpinned by our B2B business, in particular the tremendous growth we have seen in the Americas. We have made real progress in the execution of our US strategy, supported by new licences, new launches and new partnerships, and we continue to go from strength to strength in Latin America, buoyed by new strategic agreements across the region.
“In B2C, the story is similar, with Snaitech continuing to outperform the market, achieving the position of the number one brand across sports betting and retail in Italy.
“Over the year Playtech has also refocused the business, with the sale of Casual and Social Gaming in January and the disposal of Finalto due to complete later this year. The appointment of Brian Mattingley as chairman significantly strengthens our corporate governance, and our Sustainable Success strategy places ESG at the core of our business.”
Last month, Playtech announced that CEO Weizer would be excluded from any M&A-related board discussions, after he explored participating in a potential bid from TTB, alongside former Playtech director and CEO Tom Hall, colloquially known as “Hong Kong Tom”.
Pinpointing potential headwinds, London-based investment bank Peel Hunt said: “Playtech has over 700 colleagues in Ukraine and supporting them and managing the related disruption to the business may have a material impact. We are also uncertain about the impact of possible UK regulatory change.”
It did say however that the supplier’s full-year results were “stuffed with good things” and came in much better than expected, adding: “Caution over the potential impact of the Ukraine conflict and UK regulation hold us back from upgrading forecasts, but we reiterate our 800p target price and Buy recommendation.”