Zeal Network confirmed the resignation of Peter Steiner as Chairman of the Supervisory Board next year. The operator also announced that board member Frank Strauss had passed away.
Steiner is a Zeal board member since June 2013, and has held this position ever since. Since 2017, he has been the chair, except for the year 2019 when he was the supervisory board leader of Lotto24.
Steiner informed Zeal that he would be stepping down after the annual meeting in 2025. Steiner’s 12-year involvement with the operator’s supervisory council will come to an end.
Zeal is soon to begin a recruitment process in order to find and hire a new replacement.
Zeal mourns the loss of a board member
Zeal announced that Frank Strauss had passed away suddenly and without warning. He was a member on its Supervisory Board. Strauss, who was 54 years old, had been a member of the Zeal board for 4 years.
Strauss spent almost 30 years at Deutsche Bank AG, where he was most recently a member in the board of directors, responsible for global clients, both private and corporate.
Steiner said Zeal was “deeply sorry” about Strauss’s death.
Steiner stated that “With decades of experience in management and a high level of dedication, he was an extremely valued colleague not just on the Supervisory Board.” Our thoughts are with the family, including his wife and children.
Helmut Becker, CEO of Zeal added that Frank Strauss had made an important contribution to Zeal’s success in the last four years. We will miss his advice, ideas, and commitment, as well as myself personally.
We are grateful to his family and we pay him tribute. “Our deepest sympathies go to the family.”
Zeal is now taking steps to fill in the void left by Strauss’ sudden death.
Zeal’s revenue up by 35.2% in Q1
Zeal published its Q1 Results in early May. The results showed that revenue increased by 35.2% to EUR36.1m ($39.3m/£30.7m).
The increase in revenue from the lottery was 28.5%, bringing it to EUR32.0m. Zeal noted that its online gaming business, which generated EUR2.2m in revenue for Germany, had also made an impact. Since the segment was only introduced in June last year, there are no year-over-year comparisons.
The revenue generated by these activities outside Germany increased by 9.0%, to EUR1.4m. The ONCE operations in Spain were primarily responsible for this increase.
Zeal’s costs were up, but the revenue growth meant that net profit was EUR21.1m, 382.8% more than 2023. EBITDA also increased year-onyear, to EUR9.4m.
