20th Feb 2014 08:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - Playtech PLC Thursday expressed confidence for 2014 and announced a special dividend as it saw revenues rise in the financial year 2013, and pretax profit boosted by the sale of its share in William Hill Online to William Hill PLC.
The gaming and betting software company announced a special dividend of GBP100 million, in addition to maintaining its total dividend for the year flat at EUR23.2 euro cents per share.
Playtech said it had seen a strong start to 2014, with daily average revenues for the first seven weeks of 2014 ahead 15% over the first quarter of 2013, and over 4% from the fourth quarter of 2013.
The company posted a pretax profit of EUR491.3 million in the financial year 2013, up from a pretax profit of EUR89.0 million in the previous year, boosted by a one off gain as William Hill exercised its call option to acquire Playtech's 29% stake in William Hill Online for EUR496.5 million.
On an adjusted basis, excluding this exceptional gain and other one off costs, the company posted a pretax profit of EUR169.1 million, down slightly from EUR170.6 million in the previous year.
Playtech posted revenues of EUR367.2 million, up from EUR317.5 million in the previous year. Playtech said that revenue growth had been bolstered by organic growth, new business wins and its acquisition of PokerStrategy in July, 2013.
Casino revenues rose 25% to EUR189.2 million from EUR151.7 million in the previous year. Sport betting revenue rose to EUR17.1 million, up 61% from EUR10.6 million in the previous year, boosted by growth from its Mobenga mobile sport product and the launch of its Gala Coral product. The company expects this revenue stream to see further growth in 2014 as Mobenga goes live with Ladbrokes in December ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
Poker revenue declined 18% to EUR14.7 million from EUR17.8 million, which Playtech blamed on weakness in the poker market.
Although the company noted that there is a number of regulatory and fiscal developments in the gaming market coming up, it is confident about its prospects for 2014 and beyond.
"As online gambling continues to develop, it is pleasing to see Playtech's investment in mobile and further product development paying-off," said non-executive Chairman Alan Jackson in a statement. "Playtech has further strengthened its position as the world's leading supplier of technology and services for the online gambling industry, and the board looks to the future with confidence and optimism."
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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