Sun International Sees Record H1 Growth from Online Betting and Robust Hotel Performance

Sun International has today released its H1 results showcasing strong performance for the first half of 2023, backed by record online betting figures and robust hotel performance. The operator of renowned establishments such as Sun City recorded an income rise of 11.7% to R5.8 billion. This was primarily driven by sustained growth in its gaming income, which makes up an impressive 78.0% of the group's income and saw an increase of 6.6%.

Despite the robust figures, the company's profit growth was partly offset by losses in foreign exchange resultant from the fluctuating Nigerian naira. This led to a doubling of the company's forex losses. Nevertheless, the company reported an 83% surge in headline earnings, reaching R422 million, while basic earnings soared by 80% to R418 million.

In an intriguing turn of events, the company also reported adjusted earnings accounting for certain once-off or unusual events during the interim period, leading to an adjusted headline earnings increase of 9% to R482 million. Sun International was also impacted by a rise in net diesel costs of R60 million, without which the EBITDA margin would have hit 28.2%.

On its impressive performance, the company noted, "The reduction in minorities’ share of earnings is attributable to the strong performance of our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Sun City and SunBet.” Sun International further noted that the income of its hotel segment increased by 26.9% in H1 with a focus on Sun City's exceptional performance, that saw a similar 26% increase in income.

Sun International also disclosed plans to further expand its Sun Vacation Club development at Sun City to include 58 new units, planned to be completed by 2023. Despite economic headwinds, Sun International remains committed to solid growth and has declared an interim dividend increase of 68.2%.