8th Jul 2015 08:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - GVC Holdings PLC Wednesday said it achieved record trading in the first six months of 2015 and remains confident in its expectations for the full year.
The AIM-listed sports betting and gaming company added that talks over its proposed takeover of FTSE 250-listed Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC are continuing, although there can be no certainty that such talks will result in a formal offer being made.
On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that GVC had made an offer of just over GBP900 million to acquire much-larger Bwin.Party in a bid backed by Canadian gaming company Amaya Gaming Inc.
GVC said that sports wagers in the six months to June 30 increased 19% to EUR823 million from EUR694 million in the first half of 2014, as net gaming revenue grew 14% to EUR120 million from EUR105.1 million.
However, the aggregate sports margin declined to 8.9% from 9.9%, reflecting well-publicised punter-friendly results.
GVC said that the second quarter of 2015 showed a "particularly pleasing" result, with sports wagers averaging EUR4.5 million per day, up from EUR3.9 million in the second quarter of 2014, and net gaming revenue averaging EUR661,000 per day, up from EUR602,000. It said that the strength in trading continued into June, with net gaming revenue higher in that month than in June 2014 when the football World Cup was on.
GVC will pay an interim dividend of 14.0 cents, up from the 12.5 cents paid the prior year.
Meanwhile, GCV said that it has registered a softening in player activity through its partner Centric Multimedia SA in Greece, following the recent imposition of capital controls by the government restricting the movement of funds.
It said it continues to monitor events, but said it is too early to forecast what effect the implications will have on the second half of the year for its Greek operations.
"I am delighted today to announce another record revenue performance for the half year. Wagers, NGR, customer deposits continue to grow and the board remains confident for the outlook for the remainder of the year and beyond," Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander said in a statement.
Shares in GVC were trading flat at 457.69 pence Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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