Kindred Group is to fully exit North America by the end of Q2 2024 as part of its cost-saving review with more than 300 jobs also to go across the business.
The strategic review to cut costs was launched in April of this year, which the group cautioned could result in a full or partial sale.
The process to exit North American markets will begin immediately, with Kindred hoping to complete this within six months.
Kindred said the move would allow it to re-allocate financial and tech resources to help it regain market share in its core markets. The strategy will encompass extensions of hyper local casino brands and a continued drive to differentiate product through delivering exclusive content.
The group has been present across a number of US states, with its Unibet brand live in Pennsylvania since September 2019. In May of this year it rolled out its proprietary tech platform in New Jersey. Other active markets for Kindred include Virginia, Arizona and Washington State in partnership with the Swinomish tribe, as well as Ontario in Canada.
More than 300 positions to go
The more than 300 jobs to be phased out across the business by next year includes North American employees and consultants.
In tandem with the North America market exits, Kindred aims to cut approximately £40m from its cost base.
“The cost reduction actions announced today are both necessary and decisive,” Kindred interim CEO Nils Andén said. “While it is never a desire to inform valued colleagues of redundancies, this puts us in a stronger position to secure long-term growth for Kindred across our locally regulated core markets.
“We can now focus our resources and tech capacity towards strategic initiatives and selected markets where we see clear potential to grow our market share.”
Review still ongoing
Andén stepped up from CCO in May to become interim CEO of Kindred following Henrik Tjärnström's resignation.
Tjärnström initiated the plan to slash costs at the turn of the year, after Kindred posted a year-on-year fall in revenue and net profit for 2022.
Tjärnström said at the time that "no item is sacred" when it came to cost cutting and that it was reviewing all business areas to improve spending.
Sale still on the cards?
While the strategic review remains ongoing, Andén reiterated in the earnings call that ir remained the board’s belief that shareholder value would be maximised through a full or partial sale.
“The strategic review initiated by the board remains ongoing and we continue to advance a number of options to deliver shareholder value,” Andén said. “The board currently believes that shareholder value will be maximised through a third-party transaction.
“We will provide a further update regarding the exploration of strategic alternatives when final decisions have been made by the board of directors.”