2nd May 2007 10:00
Playtech Limited02 May 2007 2 May 2007 Playtech Ltd ("Playtech" or "the Company") Annual General Meeting Statement At the Annual General Meeting of Playtech Ltd, to be held this morning, theCompany's Chairman, Roger Withers, will make the following statement: The year under review has been one of significant progress. Playtech became apublicly listed company on 28 March 2006 by way of admission to the AlternativeInvestment Market and the business has continued to grow significantly sincethat date. The financial performance for the year ended 31 December 2006, ourmaiden preliminary results, demonstrated the continuing strong progress. Total revenues for the year were up 89 per cent to $90.1 million while adjusted netprofit after tax was increased by 90 per cent to $67.7 million. This strongperformance reflects the market leading position of Playtech and the quality ofits products and services. The Company was pleased to recommend the payment ofboth an interim and final dividend which in total made up approximately 15.7cents per share and contributed to a 78 per cent increase in adjusted earningsper share. The Board is committed to a strong dividend policy based ondistributing 50 per cent of Playtech's net profits and will endeavour torecommend dividends on a twice-yearly basis. The year was not without its challenges. In October, the US Senate passed theUS Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006, which proved to be awatershed for the online gaming industry. Playtech reacted swiftly andeffectively to the changed legislative environment and withdrew from the USmarket in good time, thereby protecting the Company from any negative legaloutcome. Playtech was already well advanced in diversifying its geographic reach andwhile there was an impact on revenue generation at the time, this continues tobe offset by new client revenues generated from non-US territories and I ampleased to state that monthly income is now close to levels of a year ago. Thisagain, reflects the robust nature of Playtech's diversified model, geographicreach and quality of its products and services. Playtech is committed to growing and diversifying its business portfolio - bothgeographically and by product type. During the year, the Company made a numberof significant announcements demonstrating its reach into new territories andfurther into its markets. Notable amongst these was in November 2006 when theBoard announced the acquisition of certain non-US assets of Tribeca TablesEurope Ltd which accelerated the Company's growth in the online pokermarketplace. This was a significant earnings-enhancing transaction for Playtech.The Company continues to develop its land-based products and services and thepremier brand of Videobet continues to grow ahead of our expectations asdemonstrated by important contract wins. The international land based gamingmarket is an important revenue centre for Playtech where the Board seesincreasing growth opportunities to supplement its core market of remote onlinegaming. Technological advances in modern land-based gaming machines - which cansignificantly reduce capital expenditure costs for casino operators - meansthat the server-based technological platforms created, supplied and supported byPlaytech are in growing demand and the Board believes that this is a trend thatwill continue to accelerate across both new and existing gaming establishmentson an international basis. Playtech continues to diversify its products to meet the new distributionrequirements of its customers. Mobile phone gaming is an emerging market and theCompany successfully launched a number of new platforms in 2006 to meet customerdemand for this potentially huge marketplace. In terms of new market development, of note was Playtech's successful launch ofPachinko and Mahjong product software to cater for the important Asian market. Playtech is committed to innovation and the development of new products andservices to meet client demands. New business generation is essential to theCompany health and the retention of its position as the leading provider oftechnology to the international gaming industry and technological innovation. AsI stated at the time of the Company's preliminary results, it is the Board'sfirm view that there remains great potential for growth in the global gamingmarket and Playtech is well placed to play a fundamental role in developing thisburgeoning sector. In short new business development is paramount to thebusiness and is the lifeblood of the continuing success of the Company. In this regard, it is the Board's intention to create a new Executive Directorposition of Deputy Chairman with responsibility for international business development. It is intended that the position will be taken up by Avigur Zmora, the current Chief Executive who has steered the Company through its successful IPO and to the position it enjoys today as a world leading international designer, developer and licensor of software to the gaming industry. Avigur will focus on all regulated markets and the Videobet product. Avigur will be transferring his position from Chief Executive to fulfil his newrole. I look forward to working with him in his new capacity. His new role willensure that the company continues to reap the rewards of his extensive industryknowledge and entrepreneurial skills. It is the Board's intention to appoint Mor Weizer as Chief Executive. The Boardof Playtech is scheduled to meet this afternoon to ratify the aforementionedchanges and will make an announcement in due course. Mor is a qualified chartered accountant and has been a senior operationalmanager within Playtech for approximately two years during which time he hasmanaged ongoing customer relations, product delivery and technical support asChief Executive Officer of Techplay Marketing Ltd. He joined the Group in July2005. His responsibilities included overseeing Playtech's licensee relationshipmanagement, product management for new licensees and the Company's marketingactivities. Prior to joining the Playtech Group, Mor worked for Oracle for over four years,initially as a development consultant and then as a product manager, creatingsales and consulting channels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Beforethis, he worked in a variety of roles, including as an auditor and financialconsultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. I look forward to welcoming Mor to theBoard. As Playtech's customer base continues to grow and increasingly includes largemultinational clients, it is essential that the Chief Executive has a strongexperience of managing complex multi-dimensional client relationships and Mor isideally suited to that role. In light of the significant advances made in thelast year under the direction of Avigur, one of the principal roles of the ChiefExecutive is now on cementing these advances while continuing to develop thebusiness. I would now like to provide a short update on current trading conditions. TheCompany will be making a detailed statement on trading in the first quarter of2007 on 10 May 2007. Ahead of that announcement, I am pleased to report thatstrong progress has been made in all key areas of the business. Notably, theTribeca Tables acquisition referred to earlier has performed beyond ourexpectations and we are delighted with the current level of monthly income. Wecontinue to engage with non-US markets and have seen particular further stridesinto the Asian marketplace. However, we continue to be focused on internationalmarkets as a whole. Our Research and Development centres in Estonia and Bulgaria continue to growand deliver best-of-breed products and services. Without them, Playtech wouldnot be in the market leading position that it is. We are grateful to all of ourstaff around the world. We are confident that 2007 will deliver our expectations for revenue growth andmargin delivery. - ends - For Further Information: David Rydell / Helen TarbetBell Pottinger Corporate & Financial Tel:+44 20 7861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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