8th Apr 2014 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - NetPlay TV PLC Tuesday hiked its total dividend for 2013, as it saw pretax profit rise driven by new customer agreements and increasing player numbers.
The interactive gaming company posted a pretax profit of GBP4.2 million in 2013, up from GBP3.1 million in 2012, as revenue rose to GBP28.5 million from GBP21.8 million, although this was somewhat offset by higher operating expenses and marketing expenses.
NetPlay lifted its final dividend by 42% to 0.32 pence per share from 0.225p a year before, increasing its total dividend for 2013 by 33% to 0.50p from 0.375p in 2012.
Revenue was driven by new customer agreements during the year, as it signed a new three-year agreement with ITV and its SuperCasino.com brand won a contract to sponsor reality shows 'Big Brother' and 'Celebrity Big Brother'.
The company also acquired Vernons.com, the e-gaming division of Sportech PLC, during the year. Currently NetPlay's sports betting is only operated online. However, it plans to launch mobile sports betting in the second quarter of 2014 ahead of the World Cup.
New depositing players rose 25% during the year, and total depositing players were up 30% in 2013.
NetPlay said it had seen a net revenue increase of 1% in the first quarter of 2014, as new depositing players rose 13% and active depositing players were up 23%. However, this net revenue increase was hampered by a reduction in margin at the company's SuperCasino.com gaming site as a result of several of its 'VIP' users winning, reducing margin in February to 1.5%.
VIP players can accrue extra loyalty points from SuperCasino and can win prizes and cashback from promotions.
This margin has since returned to its expected level of 2.8% in March.
NetPlay said it has "substantial product enhancements in the pipeline for 2014" in player recruitment and retention. It launched a real time TV roulette streaming service for mobile in February 2014, NetPlay said, contributing to growth in Mobile revenues.
It said it continues to explore potential acquisitions.
"The group is well positioned in its current markets, and looks forward to building upon the success of 2013," said Chief Executive Charles Butler in a statement.
Shares in NetPlay were trading down 8.5% at 18.52 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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