Bookmaker Entain PLC (LSE:ENT) came out to defend itself after seeing its shares fall 10% last week on the back of warnings from rivals about customer-friendly sports results.
The FTSE 100-listed owner of Ladbrokes, Coral and Foxy Bingo said its financial outlook for 2024 was unchanged from its last update, which is for group earnings (EBITDA) to be towards the top end of its £1,040-1,090 million guidance range.
Rival Flutter, which owns Paddy Power, Betfair and US-based FanDuel revealed last week that it had lost US$390 million due to a recent run of "very unfavourable" US sports results.
But Entain said overall sports results across the group in the fourth quarter were "operator friendly" and it still sees EBITDA coming in at the top end of the range.
Its 50%-owned, US-focused Bet MGM business is expected to see a similar result for the second half of last year to the first, which saw a loss of $123 million.
Sports results for this US arm were more customer friendly, it acknowledged, particularly in October and December, but previous EBITDA guidance remains for a total loss of $250 million.
Shares in Entain jumped 9% in early trading on Monday before easing back again to a 2% gain at 640p.
** Update: Adds share price movement **