Multimedia Games Gets Major Nod from USA Today
Multimedia Games Inc. (MGAM) is starting the year off on the right foot--on Jan. 2 it was named the fastest-growing public company to be traded on the Nasdaq. Gordon Graves, the interactive bingo company's CEO and chairman of the board, said Multimedia Games was ranked no. 1 on the newspaper's list of the 20 fastest-growing firms. Last year, MGAM's market capitalization increased by a factor of ten and its price per share climbed by more than 600 percent.
Crypto Lowers Expectations
CryptoLogic Inc. (CRYP) said today that its fourth-quarter revenue would be lower than analysts' expectations. Crypto's new expectations for the quarter, which ended Dec. 31, call for revenue of $4.2 million, much lower than analysts' average estimates of $5 million.
The company said the results were due to its clients' online casinos experiencing higher jackpot wins, lower traffic and increased credit card rejections in December.
Annual revenue is still expected to increase by 27 percent to $43.6 million, Reuters reported. The online gaming software maker said it expects to see stronger momentum in the second half of 2002 as new games and new customers are added.
Lottomatica Accepts New Bid
Italian lottery firm Lottomatica last week accepted a new bid from privately owned De Agostini, a publisher of encyclopedias and maps. The latter company increased its offering from 6 euros to 6.55 euros, or 9 percent, per share, making Lottomatica worth 1.17 billion euros (US $1.03 billion).
Olivetti/Telecom Italia and Banca Nationale del Lavoro, Lottomatica's two largest shareholders, both agreed to back the new bid.
The directors of Finsiel (Telecom Italia) said they would accept the offer made by De Agostini Group for all of Lottomatica's shares for the 6.55 euros per share price. Twenty-seven percent of Lottomatica's shares are traded on the stock market. Finsiel will tender its own interest in the company, which is equal to 18.3 percent of its subscribed share capital.
Olivetti/Telecom Italia owns 15.6 percent of the lottery company and plans to sell its stake in order to reduce its debt of 17.6 billion euros. U.K. telecommunications group Marconi owns about 6 percent and is also willing to sell in order to cut its debt of 8.7 billion euros.
TAB has Second-Highest Yearly Turnover
TAB announced in late December that it had a turnover of $1.1 billion--its second highest yearly turnover. Last year, the Australian company's turnover was its highest ever, about $12.75 million higher than this year's.
Most of the turnover, about $995 million, was spent on horse racing, according to the company's annual report.
Sports betting with the company increased to an all-time high of $69.7 million, which includes the $2.6 million that was bet on a fight featuring David Tua and heavy weight boxing champion Lennox Lewis.
Reports Released
Gaming software maker Chartwell Technologies Inc. recently released its results for the fourth quarter, ending Oct. 31. The quarter was Chartwell's second consecutive profitable quarter, with a revenue increase of 36 percent, making for a total growth in revenue of 125 percent for the year. Chartwell is posting an 81 percent increase in revenue over the corresponding quarter last year.
Chartwell Technologies Inc. (CWH) - Fourth Quarter Report