Sportingbet Earnings Well Ahead of Forecasts
Sportingbet Plc (SBT.L) provided a trading update on Friday to inform the market that it enjoyed a solid third quarter (ended April 30) showing a result in EBITDA of more than £19 million, well ahead of the £15 million forecast for the period. The company stated: "Sports betting volumes during the period have been strong and there has been some improvement in margin compared with the first half. The company's poker, casino and gaming revenue streams have also continued to perform well." Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has upgraded its full-year 2005 Sportingbet EBITDA forecast from £54.3 million to £59 million. It is the third time in less than three months that the bank has upgraded Sportingbet's full-year forecast.
Online Gaming Companies Rising in Market Capitalization
Global Betting & Gaming Consultants, which monitors and maintains the GBGC-50 index of leading gambling stocks by market capitalization, has released its GBGC-50 report for the first quarter of 2005, noting that online gambling stocks--especially Sportingbet Plc (SBT.L) and BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment AG (BWIN)--have soared during the period. BetandWin gained an impressive 256 percent in stock value since the turn of the year and rose from 42nd place on the GBGC-50 list in January to 19th place by the end of April, just one slot above Sportingbet at 20th place. GBGC says it expects the make up of the index to change dramatically over the next year as several I-gaming companies take their companies public.
IG Group Sets IPO at 120p
Spread betting firm IG Group Holdings Plc (IGG.L) has set its initial public offering price at 120 pence per share, giving the company a market capitalization of £393 million. The company is offering 109.8 million new ordinary shares and 73.5 million existing ordinary shares, which combine to constitute 56 percent of the total 327.5 million shares in issue. The company will use the funds gained through the offering to repay outstanding debt and to redeem the majority of its preference share capital. The company's shares should be admitted to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Rank Performance on Pace So Far
British leisure company The Rank Group Plc (RNK.L) issued a trading statement last week, stating that it is trading in line with expectation so far this year. Rank's Hard Rock and Deluxe divisions have received good enough results to balance a muted performance in gambling. While the Blue Square poker room is not yet making significant contributions to revenue and customer growth, the Blue Square online casino is. However, weak sports betting margins has left Blue Square with profits that are behind last year. Mecca Bingo is performing very similarly to last year, and the company's land-based casinos are performing well.
Reports Released
BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment AG (BWIN)'s recent financial report shows that in the fourth quarter of 2004 the company received a record quarterly turnover of 314 million euro (up 150 percent from the same period in 2003) and record quarterly revenues of 18.6 million euro (up 130 percent). EBITDA for the quarter increased 81 percent to reach 4.6 million euros, and the group's consolidate earnings after tax increased 104 percent to 2.8 million euro. For the entire year 2004 the company logged over 1 million new registered customers and received more than 856 million in turnover, which is 114 percent more than last year. The company also reports an EBITDA of 6.9 million euro, which is up 6 percent despite aggressive marketing campaigns in Greece and Spain.
BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment AG - Annual Report