HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - In view of rising customer acquisition costs, lottery broker Zeal Network cannot rule out a decline in operating earnings this year. For this, the completed year went well despite many challenges, as the SDax company announced on Monday evening surprisingly after the close of the stock exchange.

The share came under pressure on Tuesday morning: the price fell by around 0.6 percent. The share thus cost 31.80 euros, after the price had risen sharply the previous day due to the prospect of a special dividend. Expert Henrik Paganetty from analyst firm Jefferies described the preliminary figures for 2022 as strong. The growth driver was the increased number of registered users. He is not surprised by the outlook: the forecasts are in line with expectations.

Although sales are expected to increase to 110 to 120 million euros in 2023, as the company announced. However, expenses for the acquisition of new customers and marketing will be at least about the same as in 2022, so that the operating profit will not be better in every case. For operating profit (Ebitda), Zeal is targeting 30 to 35 million euros.

In the past year, according to preliminary figures, operating profit was 31.7 million euros, 14 percent higher than in the previous year, despite a sharp rise in marketing costs. Sales rose by more than a fifth to 105.2 million euros due to the very good performance of new customer business.

The provider of state lottery products mainly operates under the brands lotto24.de and tipp24.com. Zeal brokers customers' tickets to the state lottery companies and collects brokerage commissions. In phases with high jackpots, the Group ramps up its marketing activities to attract new customers. Zeal plans to present its final figures on March 23./lew/knd/mne/jha/