Q1 2021 Entain PLC Trading Statement Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Joseph Philip Thomas - HSBC, Research Division - Analyst : I was just wanting to ask a couple of things. One was on the margin, the sports gross win margin, which obviously remains strong, and it's been persistently strong. And I know you said, Rob, it's 1 to 2 percentage points ahead of where you'd expect it to be. But I mean there's been a lot of news around the starting price and so on. And I'm just wondering, to what extent you're starting to see a structural tailwind because of some of these things now, and so a little bit more visibility around that. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 15, 2021 / 8:00AM, ENT.L - Q1 2021 Entain PLC Trading Statement Call Second thing was just on ARC and whether you could spell out the extent to which you're expecting it to be a drag on revenues and profits. And forgive me, but is that to be rolled out beyond the U.K.? So it's kind of -- it's an Entain-wide initiative? Or is it just focused in the U.K. at the moment? And then finally, I was going to -- spelling out the restrictions in retail. I have not had the joys of betting shops since lockdown has been lifted. But is the state running -- is it profitable at the moment under these restrictions?

Question: Ivor Griffith Rees Jones - Peel Hunt LLP, Research Division - Analyst : Can I ask you to talk about the countries that are getting organic investment and which are going to be important in these discussions in 12 months' time? You mentioned Brazil briefly, but Netherlands, other Latin American countries, what are the emerging markets that are going to pop up above the parapet? Secondly, I'm kind of looking for you to try and give me an easy soundbite to crystallize something very complicated. You said previously that responsibility measures are GBP 20 million of EBITDA drag. How will you want the outsiders to pick up the change in what the company is doing in terms of responsibility? Is it that we don't take spending over a certain level every month, we don't take spending until we've done a particular type of affordability check that demonstrates how responsible we are? How can we crystallize that into a way of describing a change in responsibility? And then the last thing, when we last spoke, I think you've said that the company had around GBP 60 million plus of aggregate government support. I guess that's gone up with another few months of the furlough scheme, and you were considering whether to repay it. Have those considerations reached a conclusion yet?

Question: Richard Paul Stuber - Numis Securities Limited, Research Division - Analyst : Just one question from me. Obviously, very strong online growth this quarter and also for the last sort of 5 years. Do you have any sort of comments on the reliability of the Tax Act across the group or in particular markets, whether it's also held as expected? And secondly, so I guess in terms of operating leverage on Online and how we think about it, are there any sort of step-up investments in the lights of customer services as people move online or is just largely automated now, and therefore, your platforms are so far -- is highly scalable?

Question: Richard Paul Stuber - Numis Securities Limited, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. I guess just Online generally, I guess, a small marginal increase in top line in Online, basically down to the earnings line. But as (inaudible) see any changes in operating leverage guidance, I guess, is the question.