Zeal will pay up to £38.6 million to take full ownership of the digital prize draw operator

Zeal Network is growing its share of the prize draw market in the United Kingdom with the acquisition of SevenCanyon.

Zeal already holds a 3.5 per cent stake in the prize draw operator and has now agreed a deal to take full ownership of the company for an initial cash payment of £33.8 million, plus an earnout of up to £4.8 million in the six months post-completion.

SevenCanyon operates the 7days Performance, Redline Competitions and UK Carp Competitions prize draw platforms in the UK.

“SevenCanyon is one of the most successful prize draw operators in the UK – we have known them for years,” said Zeal chief executive Stefan Tweraser. “With the acquisition, we hit the ground running in a highly attractive and growing market. We also accelerate the implementation of our strategy to selectively diversify our business model through new products and new markets.”

In the 12-month period ended 31 March 2025, the latest year for which figures are publicly available, SevenCanyon had revenue of £98.34 million and operating profit of £10.23 million.

Zeal said that the transaction will further bolster its business in the UK, where it expects the move towards more formalised regulations to benefit businesses of its scale.

Andrea Behrendt, CFO of Zeal Network, commented: “SevenCanyon is a highly profitable company with a proven business model. The purchase price will mainly be financed through a new loan agreement. This preserves our financial flexibility to continue our growth-oriented and shareholder-friendly capital allocation in the future.”

The company’s Board expects SevenCanyon to make a meaningful contribution to ZEAL’s revenue and EBITDA following consolidation, with the company forecasting full-year EBITDA in the range of €70-€75 million. 

This includes anticipated non-recurring expenses in the mid-single-digit millions of euros in connection with this transaction.

Shares in Zeal Network SE (XETRA:TIMA) were trading 4.17 per cent higher on the news at €45.00 per share in Frankfurt Thursday morning.