Betfair Reports
Online betting exchange Betfair announced that its annual revenues have jumped 30 percent to £182 million thanks to new technology and product development. The launch of a new online casino and the re-launch of Betfair Poker were key contributors to the improvement. The switch to a proprietary platform helped Betfair Poker increase its active users by 57 percent to 433,000 in the year ended April 2007. Its total number of users, meanwhile, has eclipsed the 1 million mark. Betfair Poker, on a proprietary platform helped active users increase by 57 percent, to 433,000, in the year up to April 2007. Costs involved in developing new business, however, resulted in a decrease in pre-tax profits from £36.5 to £25.3.
Seeking the Tote
The Telegraph reported that the consortium to acquire the U.K. Tote has made a bid of around £320 million (£80 million less than the original estimate). The U.K. government has confirmed that a bid was made.
888's New Direction
888.com CEO Gigi Levy told Reuters during an interview at the European I-Gaming Congress & Expo (EiG) in Barcelona that his company is looking to acquire a sports betting business and that they expect to launch a betting service in late 2007 or early 2008. It will most likely target U.K. punters.
Acquiring Shares
Fun Technologies announced that it has reached a non-binding agreement in principle with its majority shareholder, Liberty Media Corporation, through which Liberty will indirectly acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Fun not already owned by Liberty at a price per share of GBP 1.75. Liberty, which currently indirectly owns approximately 53 percent of the outstanding Fun common shares, originally proposed to acquire the shares at 1.635.
Listing Shares
888 announced that an application has been made to the U.K. Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for listing a further 4 million ordinary shares at £0.005 each, fully paid to trade on the London Stock Exchange and to be admitted to the Official List. The shares will rank pari passu with the existing issued shares of the company and will be issued pursuant to the exercise of share options and share vesting under the 888 All-Employee Plan.
Boss Appointments
Boss Media announced that it has appointed the following people to its nomination committee: Mats Lindström of Medströms AB (chairman), Svante Elfving of Brummer & Partners AB, Åsa Nisell of Swedbank Robur Fonder AB and Meg Tivéus, Boss Media's chairman of the board. The committee's duties prior to the forthcoming annual general meeting in 2008 are to submit a proposal with respect to the number of directors to be elected, the fees for the board of directors, the board of directors' composition and the chairman of the board of directors. It will also propose new instructions for the nomination committee to the next annual general meeting. The appointments were made in accordance with a decision made at the company's annual general meeting on May 10, 2007.