Financial institution FDJ UNITED debuts robust first-half earnings, maintaining 2025 financial targets
FDJ United Reports Mixed Results for Q2 2025
FDJ United, a leading French gaming and lottery company, has released its Q2 2025 financial results, revealing a complex picture of growth and challenges.
The company's overall revenue for the first half of 2025 reached an impressive €1.87 billion ($2.13 billion), a significant 31% increase compared to H1 2024. This growth is primarily attributed to the consolidation of Kindred, a major acquisition that expanded the group's scale and contributed significantly to overall revenue.
However, when the figures are restated to exclude this acquisition and to provide a like-for-like comparison, revenue actually declined by 2%. This decline was driven mainly by a 12% decrease in online betting and gaming revenue. This decrease was due to a "very unfavorable" comparison to 2024, which benefited from the Euro 2024 football tournament, as well as regulatory and tax challenges in key markets like the UK and the Netherlands. Excluding these two markets, online revenue would have risen by about 5%.
The online betting and gaming business unit, BU2, reported revenue of €466 million ($531.8 million), down 12% on a restated basis. Stéphane Pallez, FDJ United's chair and CEO, called 2025 a "transition year" due to the ongoing integration of Kindred.
Despite these challenges, other areas of the business showed promising growth. Lottery revenue reached €1.07 billion ($1.22 billion), up 6% year-over-year, largely driven by digital sales. Retail sports betting was stable despite some declines in point-of-sale betting.
Recurring EBITDA for Q2 2025 reached €441 million, representing a margin of 23.6%. FDJ United's adjusted net income for Q2 2025 was €222 million, bolstered by the acquisition of Kindred.
The success of the employee share ownership plan reflects FDJ United's long tradition of sharing value creation with all stakeholders. The plan launched by FDJ United brought the share of capital held by employees to 4.6%.
In summary, the reported 31% revenue increase results from consolidation of Kindred's revenue, while underlying organic operations faced headwinds leading to the 2% restated decline and 12% fall in online betting revenue due to strong prior-year comparables and regulatory impacts. Stéphane Pallez stated that the H1 performance of FDJ United was in line with the company's projections, and FDJ United reiterated its guidance for the full year of 2025.
[1] Source: FDJ United Q2 2025 Financial Results [2] Source: FDJ United H1 2025 Financial Results [3] Source: FDJ United Press Release - Q2 2025 Results [4] Source: FDJ United Press Release - H1 2025 Results
Following the unexpected 31% revenue increase in H1 2025 by FDJ United, which is largely due to the consolidation of Kindred, investigating other potential avenues for growth within the organization might involve exploring opportunities in sports betting and finance, such as offering financially-backed sports betting or expanding into investing in gaming industries.
The robust 12% decline in online betting and gaming revenue experienced by BU2 of FDJ United in H1 2025, mainly due to the Euro 2024 football tournament and regulatory challenges in key markets, evokes the need for the company to look into strategic approaches to mitigate such fluctuations, possibly through diversification into new markets or productivity-boosting schemes.
