Stan James "exceeding expectations", says Unibet CEO
The UK becomes Unibet's largest regulated market, decision on brand strategy due in coming months
Unibet CEO Henrik Tj?rnstr?m says Stan James Online is “exceeding expectations” but admits the long-term future of the UK-focused brand remains up in the air.
The operator’s 2015 financial results, which were released today, showed the recently acquired Stan James and iGame Group contributed ?13m in gross winnings revenue during Q4 alone, and would have added ?46m had they been part of the group for the full year.
Stan James, which derives more than 90% of its revenues from the UK and Ireland, was acquired by Unibet for ?19m, and resulted in the UK becoming the Stockholm-listed firm’s single largest locally-regulated market.
Speaking to eGaming Review this morning, Tj?rnstr?m said while he was pleased with the brand’s performance, the operator would aim to find additional revenue synergies and enhance the product to improve ARPU levels.
“Stan James has exceeded expectations and we are very confident on the long-term developments of both of our new brands [Stan James Online and iGame Group] which are off to a really good start and we will make sure that continues,” he said.
“All the time we are working with the respective teams of Stan James and iGame to look at more of the technological situation for the longer-term and how we are going to optimise that for the group.
“We also have some really good people coming into the business and contributing to the overall group which is in line with plans,” Tj?rnstr?m continued.
Since acquiring Stan James in July last year, Unibet has since undertaken a review tasked with judging the long-term viability of the asset’s platform and whether to run a single or double-brand strategy.
According to Tj?rnstr?m, a decision on brand can be expected within the next “couple of quarters” as Unibet works on enhancing the Stan James product in the short-term, including the launch of a new live casino.
However, the chief exec appeared to be leaning towards the operation of a single sportsbook brand, a scenario which would almost certainly see Unibet given the nod.
“We will see what we’re going to have but I see a lot of merits of having one global sportsbook brand and we will see which one that is,” Tj?rnstr?m said.
“We think the product is much more important for the customer than the brand and it’s much more manageable changing the brand for the customer than to change the product,” Tj?rnstr?m continued. “We are working on that without any bias,” he added.