Tab NZ fell short of revenue and profit budgets for the second consecutive month in August, partly due to continuing soft economic conditions in New Zealand.
Gross betting revenue for the month amounted to NZ$31.5m (£15.9m/€18.3m/US$18.1m), which was down on budget by 6.0%, or $2.0m.
As a result, profit in August was below expectations at $10.4m, missing Tab NZ’s budget by $1.4m, while turnover also missed a $210.2m budget by $12.3m.
This followed similar results in July, when Tab NZ also reported that it missed budgets for both revenue and profit.
Tab NZ said a combination of ongoing factors contributed to this, including soft economic conditions impacting customers’ discretionary spend, Covid-19-related mask restrictions in retail venues deterring a section of customers from visiting and race meetings being abandoned due to weather.
August also again experienced a drop in starters across all three racing codes, maintaining a trend that began in April.
Tab NZ also said that operating expenses for the month reached $10.5m, which was slightly ahead of budget by $300,000 as a result of restructuring costs and investments in customer retention and acquisition.
In terms of distribution, Tab NZ made $12.4m in total payments to Racing Codes during the month, which was marginally ahead of its initial budget at $12.3m.
Looking at betting activity, the most popular sporting event to wager on was the national team’s rugby union clash between New Zealand and Argentina on 27 August, which drew $978,000 in bets. For racing, the Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa on the same day attracted $500,000 in wagers.
