28th Apr 2011 07:00
Media Corporation Plc
(AIM: MDC)
("Media Corp" or the "Group")
Sale of Gambling.com domain
The Board of Media Corp, a leading advertising network and online gaming group, is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the sale of www.gambling.com for $2.5 million (£1.5 million) in cash.
Following an extensive auction process that was handled by Sedo, the World's leading domain marketplace, the transaction formally completed on 27 April with the receipt of funds and transfer of the domain name.
Since its acquisition, Gambling.com has generated significant revenues and earnings as set out below:
Search Focus Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary and the owner of Gambling.com), Profit and Loss accounts. (USD's)
| Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Unaudited | Total | |||||||||
| Year endedSep | Year endedSep | Year endedSep | Year endedSep | Year endedSep | Year endedSep | ||||||||||
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |||||||||
| $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | ||||||||||
| Turnover | 2,490 | 5,771 | 2,096 | 817 | 833 | 1180 | 13,187 | ||||||||
| EBITDA | 1,772 | 5,308 | 1,687 | (308) | (605) | (40) | 7,814 |
Overall, considering the impact on both the profitability and the value of Gambling.com resulting from the US online gaming ban, to have generated $13.2 million (£8 million) in revenues and a further $2.5 million (£1.5 million) for the sale of the domain, taken together the Directors consider the sale and realisation of cash to be a satisfactory result.
As at 30 September 2010 Gambling.com was valued on the Group's balance sheet at $4.25 million (£2.6 million), meaning that the sale will result in a one off loss in the profit and loss account for the current financial year of $1.75 million (£1.1 million).
The transaction includes only the Gambling.com domain name and website. The Group has retained ownership of a number of significant assets relating to the business of Gambling.com including intellectual property, customer databases and infrastructure. It is anticipated that these assets will be of significant economic benefit to www.purplelounge.com, the Group's online gaming business.
Justin Drummond, CEO, Media Corporation plc, commented:
"The sale of Gambling.com brings a significant boost to the Group's already substantial cash reserves; we have recently seen a number of exciting acquisition opportunities in the online gaming and online advertising space. The successful sale of www.gambling.com has given the Group more than adequate financial resources to pursue these acquisition opportunities aggressively."
Liesbeth Mack-de-Boer, CSO at Sedo, commented,
"The high sale price paid for Gambling.com is a real confidence booster for the global domain name industry and demonstrates the value companies are still prepared to place on their digital assets."
--ENDS--
Contacts:
| Media Corporation Plc | Tel: +44 20 7618 9000 | |||
| Justin Drummond - CEO | ||||
| Nilesh Jagatia - Group Finance Director | ||||
| Northland Capital Partners limited | Tel: + 44 20 7796 8800 | |||
| Luke Cairns / Rod Venables (Nomad) | ||||
| Katie Shelton (Joint Broker) | ||||
| XCAP Securities John Grant / Karen Kelly (Joint Broker) | Tel: + 44 207 101 7070 | |||
| Bishopsgate Communications | Tel: + 44 20 7562 3350 | |||
| Duncan McCormick / Deepali Schneider / Natalie Quinn | ||||
Notes to editors:
Quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Media Corp is a leading media and online gaming group.
The Group has two principal divisions:
Advertising Network - Formed in 1996, Eyeconomy specialises in mass reach campaigns to up to 50 Million unique consumers per month via its own proprietary ad-serving and tracking technology for clients including AOL, Dell and American Express.www.eyeconomy.co.uk
Website Publishing - Media Corp has a diversified publishing division specialising in online media and gaming. The impressive portfolio of websites includes a number of market leading websites, such as www.purple-lounge.com, www.onthebox.com, www.sport.co.uk, www.creditcardexpert.co.uk and www.flightcomparison.co.uk.
Further information can be found on the company's website, at www.mediacorpplc.com
Copyright Business Wire 2011
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