WilliamHillPoker.com offering online tournament with prize pool of almost $200,000
Thursday 6th March 2008
Unaudited results for the second quarter ended 31 January 2008
Financial Highlights
· Amounts wagered up 29.5% to £364.7m (2007: £281.6m)
· Group operating profit* up 275% to £7.5m (2007: £2.0m) in the quarter - £11.7m year to date (2007: £4.0m)
· Operating profit* at 18.2% of n et gaming revenue (2007: 5.8%) versus stated target of 13%
· Cash on the balance sheet, net of customer liabilities, of £32.0m (2007: £35.5m)
· Statutory Group operating profit of £3.6m (2007: loss of £0.1m)
· Diluted earnings per share* of 1.4p (2007: 0.5p)
(* stated before charging exceptional items, fair value restatements and amortisation)
Business Highlights
· Strong growth in net gaming revenue across the portfolio
o Sports up 29.6% year on year
o Casino up 29.1% year on year
o Poker up 34.1% quarter on quarter
· Growth delivered through both incremental betting volumes (amounts wagered on sports in Europe up 35.3% year on year) and yields per player
· Restructuring benefits demonstrated by significantly enhanced operating profit margins
· Acquisition of Bulgarian marketing partner for an initial consideration of £4.0m and deferred consideration of up to £7.2m
· Management team strengthened – all key positions now filled
Commenting on the results, Andrew McIver, Chief Executive, said:
“We are pleased with the performance and continued development of the business in the second quarter of this financial year. With six months of the year completed we have achieved an operating profit of £11.7m versus £4.0m last year. This has not been achieved by especially favourable outcomes to sports events – the margin percentage is actually slightly lower than last year – but rather from strong growth in turnover from our core sports offering and careful cost control.
Whilst these results are ahead of where we expected to be at this stage, with a fourth quarter dominated by one major event this year, Euro 2008, we are happy to bank the strong performance in these results against the second half and remain confident for the full year’s out-turn.”
For further information please contact:
Sportingbet Plc Tel: 020 7184 1800
Andrew McIver, Group Chief Executive
Jim Wilkinson, Group Finance Director
Simon Gregory, Director of Business DevelopmentSmithfield Consultants
Unaudited results for the second quarter ended 31 January 2008