Market Briefs - April 26-30, 2004

Gaming Company Among Many Seeking NASDAQ Funding

Chinese Internet companies could raise more than $1 billion by the end of the year from listing on NASDAQ despite recent poor performances by China's U.S.-listed technology stocks. The Financial Times reported that eLong (a travel site), 51job.com (an Internet recruitment group) and The9 (an online gaming company) have appointed advisers to carry out initial public offerings worth at least $100 million each. They join candidates such as Shanda Networks, an Internet games producer, and Tencent, an instant messaging provider which aim to raise $250 million $300 million each. Mtone, another instant messaging provider, is seeking to raise $100 million and Harbour Networks, an Internet equipment maker, will try to raise up to $400 million.

BetandWin.com Takes Company Records in Turnover, Net Win, EBITDA

BETandWIN.com Interactive Entertainment AG (BWIN.BE)'s financial results for the first quarter of 2004 show record amounts for the company in turnover, net winnings, and EBITDA. Turnover for the quarter was 136 million euro, up 52 percent from last year's first quarter mark of 90 million euro. Net winnings is up 51 percent to 8.7 million euro (8.7 million last year), and EBITDA is up 76 to 2.7 million euro (1.5 million last year). The company has liquid assets of 27.8 million euro.

Chartwell Shares Graduate to Larger Market

Chartwell Technology Inc. (TSX.CWH), a Canadian provider of gaming software for Internet and mobile systems, has graduated from the TSX Venture Exchange and its shares are now listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CWH. The upgraded listing to the largest Canadian stock exchange should give the company increased visibility and greater recognition in the global financial market.

Groundbreaking Year for EGET

Last week European Game and Entertainment Technology Inc. (EGET), a Finnish company that develops, licenses and hosts businesses in the interactive casino, lottery, event betting and horse-racing industries, held its annual general meeting and released its financial statement for the year 2003. EGET recorded 4.12 million euro in turnover with EBITDA of 1.03 million euro in 2003, a year that the company says was full of groundbreaking moments, such as its entry into mobile gaming with horse race betting Fintoto and its delivery of a casino platform to Ålands Penningautomatförening (PAF), the first Scandinavian operator with a progressive jackpot and over 55,000 registered users.

Phantom Fiber Goes Public through Reverse Takeover

Officials with Pivotal Self-Service Technologies Inc. (PVSS.OB) and Phantom Fiber Corporation, announced a merger last month that resulted in a reverse takeover of Pivotal by Phantom Fiber. Under the shares exchange agreement, Pivotal issued 137,410,735 shares for all the issued and outstanding common shares of Phantom Fiber Corporation and 30,000,000 common shares and warrants to purchase an additional 15,000,000 common shares to the holders of $1,200,000 of convertible debentures of Phantom Fiber Corporation. Officials with Phantom Fiber said the majority of their executives and board will assume similar positions with the new company, and the deal was finalized as shareholders from both firms approved the deal. For Phantom Fiber the deal offered an ideal takeover candidate and a logical entry into being a publicly traded company, Pivotal shares are traded on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) exchange.

Reports Released

"For the first time in Youbet.com Inc (UBET)'s history, we have crossed the line into profitability," said Charles Champion, Chairman and CEO of Youbet.com, the largest provider of horse racing content in the United States. The company's first quarter income for 2004 was US$15,111 or a flat $0.00 per share. EBITDA increased 136 percent to $1.1 million ($465,000 in first quarter 2003). The period also marked Youbet's ninth consecutive quarter of growth in net revenue, which was $5.4 million, 43 percent better that $3.8 million in the same period last year. Gross handle increased 18 percent to $72 million compare to $61 million in the same period last year.