Listen To Article
The positive outlook rating is based on the opinion that Inspired’s content and range of online products will continue to attract customers over the next 12 to 18 months, increasing top-line growth and driving down leverage, according to a report by Moody’s. The report suggested that “Inspired will continue to benefit from retail gaming revenues returning to pre-pandemic levels over the next 12 months as well as continued growth in its online business.”
Inspired VP and Senior Analyst Stefano Cavalleri said: “Inspired has experienced a strong rebound in revenues since the lifting of Covid restrictions related to betting shops, especially in the UK. Despite the trends toward online gaming and betting, the company’s gaming machines remain an appealing form of entertainment.
“Additionally, the company’s good growth in its online offering demonstrates Inspired’s ability to generate high-quality content, which is a key differentiator for the company. As a result, we project the ratio of debt to EBITDA to be well below 4.0x by the end of 2022.”
Moody’s also upgraded Inspired’s senior global notes rating from B3 to B2, and upgraded the company’s probability of default rating from B3-PD to B2-PD, with the outlook for both ratings changing from stable to positive.
In June 2022, Inspired agreed to a long-term extension of its retail virtual sports partnership with Betfred, through which Inspired has been delivering digital content, including virtual horse races, dog races and bingo titles to Betfred for over 15 years.
