32Red in Negotiations to Offload BetDirect Brand
In a note to the London Stock Exchange Thursday morning, 32Red confirmed media speculation that negotiations are currently underway regarding the sale of its BetDirect brand. The British media are speculating that the suitor, which 32Red reportedly would not name, could be Boylesports. On Wednesday, the Irish bookmaker was linked to a £2.5 million sponsorship tie-up with the public-service British television station, Channel 4. Click here to read more.
DonBest.com Reports 15 Percent Decline in Customer Base
Acknowledging stiffer competition in the sports information industry, Fun Technologies said on Tuesday that its sports information segment, DonBest.com, has experienced a 15 percent decline in its customer base this month. The Toronoto-listed company said DonBest intends to "move aggressively" to mitigate any negative financial impact from the decline and is currently investigating its cause. "As one of the only independent aggregators of sports information in the industry, we are confident Don Best will remain the leading, trusted information source in the marketplace," said Fun Chief Executive Lorne Abony. The company said the operating activities of its other business remains in line with expectations.
Garber Exercises More Options
PartyGaming Chief Executive Mitch Garber, in accordance with his planned sale program announced in March, has exercised 5.25 million share options at 24.41 pence per share.
Lucrative Maturation
Germany-based operator Fluxx AG has issued a convertible bond that, by 2011, could yield as much at 9.7 million euros, which the company would use in part to place distance between itself and the cloistered German lotteries market. The company, fronted by outspoken board spokesman Rainer Jacken, said it is keeping an eye on several "interesting" acquisition targets.
PSI Spelinvest to Acquire Lyckobingo.com
Swedish I-gaming investment group PSI Spelinvest AB (Spelinvest) has signed a letter of intent to acquire Lyckobingo.com, which operates on the St. Minver network. According to prepared statement released via the Nordic Business Report wire, Spelinvest proposed an all-shares deal that sees Lyckobingo.com owner Firm Factory Network receive a 30 percent stake in the group. "As part of Spelinvest, Lyckobingo.com has the opportunity to build essentially greater values than we would have been able to do by ourselves," said Lyckobingo.com founder Danial Kaplan. The announcement is the second from Spelinvest in as many months, as it reshuffled management in August after a disappointing June flotation.
Tough Year for Alphameric
Wagering technology firm Alphameric said that it expects to report significant losses in its full-year results, adding that a number of bookmakers--Ladbrokes and William Hill among them--had initiated legal proceedings against the company. "The decline in the company's share price over the past few months, media commentary concerning the activities of Amalgamated Racing Ltd. and the toughening trading conditions in the markets served by the group have combined to impact negatively the group's current trading," it said. The announcement is not the first of its kind this year as in June, Alphameric said that portions of its I-gaming business were not meeting trading and order-intake expectations set at the beginning of the year. Shares were down 58 percent on Friday; as of Monday, Sept. 24, shares were down 2.50p, or 20 percent, to 10.00.
German Analysts Maintain Buy Recommendation on Fluxx
Following Thursday's announcement from Fluxx AG regarding the issuance of a convertible bond, analysts at First Berlin maintain their buy rating on the operator as it looks to diversify ahead of the German Interstate Lotteries Treaty's adoption in January.