11th Mar 2015 10:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC Wednesday said it swung to a loss in 2014, hit by a writedown on its poker operations as that business suffered a 29% decline in revenue due to the loss of its Greek market and challenging conditions in several other markets.
Chairman Philip Yea also said the company had received a number of indicative proposals and had entered further talks with the parties that have approached the company. Last November, it had revealed it had received several approaches about potential business combinations, and a deal could result in it being acquired.
The online gaming company reported a pretax loss of EUR97.9 million for 2014 compared with a EUR44.9 million profit in 2013, as revenue dropped to EUR611.9 million from EUR652.4 million. It booked a EUR104.4 million non-cash impairment charge, mainly for the poker operations writedown.
Access to over 400 online gaming sites was restricted in Greece after internet service providers were ordered to block them by the Greek Gaming Commission in 2013. Continued softness in the European poker market also hindered the performance of the poker operations.
Its closely-watched earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was EUR102.2 million, down from EUR108.0 million in 2013, hit by the revenue decline and increased start-up costs in the US, but the company said it had exceeded its overall planned cost reduction target of EUR30 million and is on track for an additional EUR15 million of savings in 2015.
Bwin.Party also said betting volumes are ahead of last year so far in 2015, but weaker-than-expected gross margin wins mean average daily revenue is down 12% on the year. Still, it said it remains confident about its full-year outlook.
It raised its final 2014 dividend to 1.89 pence, from 1.80p, bringing the total for the year to 3.78p, up from 3.60p in 2013.
Plans for the year ahead include transforming the company's Studios business into a standalone provider of B2B gaming services.
"This represents an exciting opportunity to create substantial additional value for shareholders and we are in active discussions to secure our first new major B2B sports betting customer," CEO Norbert Teufelberger told journalists.
Bwin.Party announced last November that it had entered into preliminary discussions with "a number of interested parties regarding a variety of business combinations" which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.
Chairman Philip Yea told journalists on Wednesday that the company has received a number of indicative proposals.
"Together with our advisers, the board has entered into a further stage of discussions with each party with a view to assessing the relative attractions of these proposals against the board's objective of creating additional value for shareholders," he said.
Its shares were up 1.98% at 79.75 pence on Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected]
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