From Local Gains to Global Ambitions: Interview with Chris Fenech

Last week the Board of Directors of IZI Finance plc, the financing and holding entity of IZIGROUP, announced record financial results for fiscal year (FY2025), surpassing market expectations across all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within all of the Group’s operating units. We followed up the public announcements of the Group by meeting Mr. Chris Fenech, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of IZIGROUP to delve deeper into the motives behind these record results.

FY2025 has been a landmark year for IZIGROUP. At the start of the fiscal year, we set ourselves growth targets consonant with our market expectations. We are very pleased that our performance for the year ended 30 June 2025, surpassed our original expectations across all three of our business units, namely the National Lottery, Dragonara Casino and our iGaming operation.

Group turnover reached €920 million, an increase of 15.6% over the previous year. Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) stood at €93.7 million, up 8.4%, while EBITDA increased by 24.6% to €28.9 million. Importantly, profit before tax climbed to €7.1 million, representing a 175% improvement year-on-year. These results confirm the resilience of our business model and the strength of our diversified portfolio.

We delivered strong revenue expansion across our verticals, while focusing heavily on improving operating and profitability margins. Our efforts to grow sustainably while ensuring cost controls is what really made the difference. We are now starting to benefit from economies of scale, streamlined operations, and improved productivity. This allows us to translate top-line growth into much stronger results, and ultimately, a significant improvement in net profitability. Our margins have improved considerably, and we anticipate further improvements going forward.

Investment is central to our growth strategy. Each year we study the areas that require capital investment very carefully and once these are approved we are very meticulous in ensuring the investment is undertaken in a timely and efficient manner. Our total investment this year was slightly above €6 million, and this featured upgrades to our land-based casino product, the strengthening of our retail distribution network at the level of the national lottery, as well as targeted investments to enhance our digital and technological capabilities. Every investment is guided by a disciplined approach as we channel resources where returns are most compelling and where they align with our long-term vision for growth.

While Malta remains the key reference market for the Group, our sights are now set for international expansion. This I would say is the most interesting and challenging chapter within the Group’s history and a natural development that allows us to translate our knowledge within the gaming industry to tap into larger markets outside Malta. Our medium to long-term objective is to leverage the know-how and credibility of what we have built in Malta to explore select international opportunities.

We are currently assessing well-defined international opportunities, enabling us to use our expertise, strong governance, and product innovation. The process is measured and deliberate: we want to ensure that any international expansion is sustainable, value-driven, and fully compliant with local regulatory frameworks. We also measure these opportunities through a very clear customer charter in which responsible gaming is a key driver.

As the exclusive concessionaire for the national lottery of Malta we have the responsibility and the duty to contribute a substantial part of our GGR to good causes and the well-being of society. During the year under review, National Lottery plc contributed a total of €27.8 million in concession fees and direct gaming taxes to the Government of Malta, together with contributions to the Social Causes Fund and the Responsible Gaming Foundation. This represented 43.4% of our total gaming revenue for the year. We see these contributions not only as part of our regulatory obligations, but as part of our commitment to the Maltese society: sharing the value we create with the wider community.

Our focus remains on sustainable growth. We are targeting steady increases in turnover and GGR, continued margin improvements, and further investment in digital transformation. We are also going through a period in which we are best positioned to tap into more lucrative possibilities outside of Malta. Our pursuit of selective opportunities in other EU markets, while strengthening our commitment to responsible gaming, governance, and transparency are the cornerstone of the Group. We believe this balance of growth, responsibility, and innovation will continue to define IZIGROUP in the years ahead.