UNiTAB Expects AU $22 Million Profit in First Half
Australia's UNiTAB Ltd. (UTB) said last week that profit for the first six months of its fiscal year will be in the neighborhood of AU $22 million, an increase over last year's first-half profit of AU $13.1 million.
The forecast is higher than the figure UNiTAB released in October for the six months ending Dec. 31. In October, the group thought its first-half profit would be between AU $18 million and $19 million.
Earnings before interest and tax are expected to be about AU $32 million, up from last year's AU $17.8 million, the company said.
In December, UNiTAB and Jupiters (JUP) announced they were in merger talks to form the second-largest gaming company in the country. Recently, however, Tabcorp Holdings (TAH) has also gone public with merger talks between it and Jupiters.
Sportingbet Customer Totals Grow
Sportingbet.com plc recently said that its number of customers has grown 11 percent in the last year to 837,000 people. That list of customers results in 92,000 bets placed per day.
The company's pre-tax profit for the three months to Dec. 31 was up 17 percent to £5.5 million. For the nine-month period, pre-tax profits totaled £1.7 million. Last year's nine-month total was £3.2 million, a figure that is higher than this year's because of a smaller goodwill write-down bill.
Sportingbet also recently announced that its European section made a profit for the first time in October, a full five months earlier than the company expected it to. The company's list of European customers grew by 19 percent to 30,915 during the quarter ending Dec. 31, and the number of sports wagers increased by one million from the previous year.
Nigel Payne, chief executive, said the company has spent millions of pounds trying to convince U.S. lawmakers to legalize and regulate online gaming. He's optimistic about the prospects.
"We're one or two years away from a solution," he has said.
Reverse Split for Rimpac Stock
Rimpac Resources Ltd. (OTCBB: RIMP) recently approved a reverse stock split at its annual shareholders meeting on Jan. 31.
The company also re-elected three of its board members: Thomas M. Johnson, the company's president and CEO; Sheldon Silverman, the director of international business development; and Owen Bethel, director.
Rimpac, which owns online lottery portal InternetLOTO.com, also re-appointed its auditors, Wong Johnson & Associates.
Gala Bought by Two Private Equity Groups
Candover and Cinven, which are both private equity groups, last week purchased gaming and bingo company Gala for £1.25 billion. Gala occupies 40 percent of the United Kingdom's bingo market. It owns 166 bingo clubs and also offers bingo online.
Gala's chief executive, John Kelly, will remain in his job as per the deal. He said the agreement will strengthen the company, whose 28 casinos have 1.2 million members.
"This deal represents a fabulous opportunity for Gala to grow in the proposed modernized gaming environment," Kelly said. "I believe there will be strong potential for both organic growth and expansion by acquisition in the coming years."
The company has changed hands three times since Six Continents sold it to PPMV and Royal Bank Development Capital in 1997.