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araken's avatar

Do you think the UK regulatory investigation would wrap this quarter and do you the stock rising more than 5% due to this if its just a fine.

Also do you have information on when Capital Groups or Kevin Darts holdings in EVVTY is next reported as I believe this information will cause a small spike as-well?

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Wolf of Harcourt Street's avatar

I have no clue when it will wrap up or how the market will react, but I do not expect a material impact on Evolution given how proactive they have been with the investigation and remediation actions.

I do not follow either of those parties.

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Peter Freriks's avatar

Nice analysis! Thx I bought you a coffee for it. Looking forward, I think things will only get better with the new studio’s

and progress in Asia and America and Europe will grow again from 2026 onwards

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Wolf of Harcourt Street's avatar

Thank you for the support. I’m cautiously optimistic looking ahead but there is still a lot of work to do to return to double-digit growth.

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Andrus78's avatar

Thank you for the overview. Doesn't share buybacks affect FCF most ?

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Wolf of Harcourt Street's avatar

No, buybacks and dividends are classified as financing activities and do not impact FCF.

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Andy Burns's avatar

I realise it's small but that dividend payout frustrates me. I would have previously thought of management as great capital allocators. But given the extended share price slump, an acceleration of the buyback scheme surely would have been better for shareholders.

Another great write up thanks Wolf

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Iuliu's avatar

I swear I never seen so many complaints about the dividend for any company, as much as evolution. In europe, having 30-50% dividend payout is seen as shareholder friendly, sort of a promise that you will be careful about that capital allocation and not squander it (there is a shocking amount of companies out there that basically never return any capital)

Yes, the buybacks have been very lame, decreasing the buying at the lows. Hard to say how much that is to blame on citi that does the buying tough.

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Wolf of Harcourt Street's avatar

Hi Andy,

I’m in agreement with you here, I would much prefer to see them buy back shares rather than pay out a dividend, especially given the valuation over the past several months. I don't see this changing, though, given the strong preference for dividends in Sweden.

Regarding management’s capital allocation, the €2 billion acquisition of NetEnt appears to have been a poor decision, particularly given how weak slot performance has been since. That said, I believe they’ve learned from this and have since focused on smaller bolt-on acquisitions that can be easily integrated into the one-stop shop.

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