Spain's Cirsa hikes guidance, flags selective M&A deals to end 2025

By Javi West Larrañaga

Nov 25 (Reuters) - Spanish gambling group Cirsa CIRSA.MC hiked its earnings guidance on Tuesday after its net result swung to a profit in the third quarter, sending its shares up to 6.8% higher in the first hours of trading.

Cirsa's quarterly profit stood at 15.2 million euros ($17.5 million), compared with a loss of 10.3 million a year ago.

The Barcelona-based company said all its business units reported higher revenues, as it raised the full-year core profit forecast to between 750 million and 753 million euros, instead of the previously guided 740-750 million.

Cirsa, which operates casinos, gambling platforms and slot machines in 10 countries, has been seeking to solidify its position in the sector by expanding operations that have been proven successful and buying leading rivals in the markets where it operates.

Despite that, it expects to use only half of the 150 million euros it had earmarked for mergers and acquisitions in 2025, Chief Financial Officer Antonio Grau said on a call with analysts.

"One of the main characteristics of Cirsa's M&A (strategy) is not buying problems," Chairman Joaquim Agut added. "At the time of making acquisitions, we are very conservative and very demanding in terms of return."

The company bought a 50% stake in a casino in Marrakech earlier in November and will announce further acquisitions in the coming weeks and in the first quarter of 2026, CEO Antonio Hostench said.

Cirsa was listed in July by private equity giant Blackstone BX.N in an initial public offering that valued it at 2.52 billion euros. Blackstone kept a 78% stake in Cirsa.

However, the company's shares have fallen around 14% since their listing, weighed down by subdued mood in the sector.

Analysts from Deutsche Bank also pointed to Britain's gambling tax hikes and "customer friendly sporting results" in a note published ahead of the results, although they said the real impact these factors had on Cirsa was minimal.

The shares were up 4.3% at 1202 GMT.

($1 = 0.8678 euros)