Hills Raises Profit Expectations
After lowering its full-year profit expectations for 2005 from a range between £240 million and £260 million to a range between £230 million and £240 in November due to a string of poor racing results, William Hill Plc (WMH.L) issued a trading statement last Tuesday to reveal that its luck had improved in the final weeks of 2005 and it now expects full-year profit to be slightly higher than the revised forecast. "In addition," the company stated, "the football World Cup is likely to provide additional revenue and customer acquisition opportunities." William Hill will publish its financial results for the year 2005 on March 2.
PartyGaming Picked Among Top Stocks for 2006
Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has named PartyGaming (PRTY.L) among its top 10 stocks for 2006. Other firms include ABB, BAE Systems, Deutsche Post World Net, Ericsson, Royal Bank of Scotland, SAP AG, Telefonica, Unicredit and Xstrata. PartyGaming's shares rose Friday 1.5p to reach 139.5p, nearing a level they have not seen in four months. Analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein have a 165p target price for PartyGaming and believe the company has strong opportunities for growth, possibly through acquisitions. Analysts stated, "We disagree with the bearish notion of poker's 'faddish' nature." Meanwhile global banking group ABN Ambro has named PartyGaming as its top stock pick for 2006.
FLUXX Expands Into Betting through Investment
German lotteries and betting company FLUXX AG (ISIN DE0005763502) has acquired a 38 percent stake in QED Ventures Ltd. for 3 million euros. QED operates an international sports betting portal and betting exchange at myBet.com through a Malta-based subsidiary named Personal Exchange International Ltd. myBet.com's Internet site has 70,000 registered customers, 8,000 of which are active monthly. The Web site generated a betting volume of about 12 million euros in 2005 on revenue of 0.5 million euros. It is expected to report an EBITDA loss of about 1.3 million for the year but anticipates a sharp rise in sales in 2006 and then breaking even by 2007. QED also operates 16 myBet.com sports betting shops through a franchise model via another subsidiary. FLUXX intends to increase its stake in QED at a later stage and to secure a majority interest of up to 81 percent in the company. It has attained the ability to do this for a fixed price of a further 3 million euros plus a subsequent capital increase for cash amounting to 1.5 million euros. The capital increase is to be accrued directly by the company and to be used for the expansion of operating activities as well as to strengthen the myBet.com brand in the run-up to the football World Cup finals.
Mahjong Mania Owner Places Shares on Canadian Stock Exchange
Montreal-based Dynasty Gaming Inc (TSXV:DNY), formerly Events International Corporation, has raised CA$5.25 million (US$4.5 million) through a private placement of 15 million shares on Canada's TSX Venture Exchange at a price of CA$0.35 (US$0.30) each. The company says it will use the proceeds of the placement to further develop and expand the operations of its Mahjong Mania gaming software business and for general working capital. Dynasty has also enlisted the help of Alliance Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of Hayden Communications, Inc., to implement a comprehensive investor relations program.
Sportech Loses £14 million through Deal Termination
Sportech (SPO.L), operator of the Littlewoods gaming and betting brand, has terminated a seven-year contract it signed with ITV in March 2002 that enabled it to offer betting on ITV's interactive television channel. Sportech's CEO Ian Penrose stated, "Following a thorough review of the business, it has been established that our contract with ITV is commercially unviable. Given the huge contractual payments due under the contract from February 2006 onwards, we are not prepared to expose the company to this ongoing liability. Sportech will continue to participate in the interactive betting market and we look forward to updating the market about new launches we have in the pipeline early in 2006." For ending the partnership Sportech will have to pay ITV an estimated £14 million over the final three years of the contract.
NFL Season Results in Lower Earnings for Betcorp
Melbourne-based Betcorp Ltd. (BCL.AX), operator of BetWWTS and other Caribbean-based gaming sites, has lowered its full-year earnings forecast of AU$7 million (US$5.3 million) to AU$5.5 million (US$4.1 million) due to poor results in an American football season that has seen many favored teams win frequently. On a brighter note, the company's fourth quarter gross income of AU$12.4 million (US$9.3 million) is a 42 percent improvement over the same period last year. Betcorp will publish its full-year results for 2005 on Feb. 14.
CVC Hoping to Pick up Ladbrokes
The Times reports that private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners has hired investment bank Greenhill to provide advice on how to structure a purchase offer for British bookmaker Ladbrokes (HG.L) that is thought to be as high as £3 billion. CVC has also begun discussions with banks about putting together a debt package. The equity firm is not thought to have made a formal approach to Ladbrokes yet though.