Increased costs see Paf report 45% profits decline

Finnish state owned gambling operator Paf has recorded a severe decline in 2014 top-line metric performance. Paf governance would report a 45% decline in 2014 operating profits to €17.2 million from 2013 – €31.4 million.

The Aland based operator recorded revenue declines in both its online and land-based divisions. Paf’s digital division would record an 11% drop in revenues to €73 million, whilst land-based operations would see revenues decrease 9% to €98 million.

The operator’s governance noted that its divisions had been impacted by higher costs and increased investments in marketing and operations, which it believed would aid paf in the long term.

Paf governance further outlined that new corporate investments into social responsibility measures in Finland were a core factor for the operators 45% operating profit decline.

Paf CEO Anders Ingves stated to the media that he was not happy with the operators performance and situation. Paf leadership would now wholly concentrate in turning around the operators fortunes in 2015

We are not satisfied with this performance in terms of either revenue or profit, and we are going into 2015 with the aim of finding and implementing measure to restore growth to Paf,” Ingves said.

“In the short term, investments in responsible gaming have had and are continuing to have a negative impact on revenue and profit, but in the slightly longer term safer gaming is expected to result in customers wanting to play with us, leading to improved profits,”