Market Briefs - July 19-23, 2004

Phantom's New Ticker

Wireless technology and mobile solutions provider Phantom Fiber Corporation has changed its ticker symbol from PVSS to PHMF to reflect its name change from Pivotal Self-Service Technologies after last month's reverse takeover. The company will hold an investor conference call on today. For more information, visit www.phantomfiber.com.

Coral Eurobet's Debt Diminishes Profit

U.K.-based betting company, Coral Eurobet Ltd., which was last year bought by private equity firm Charterhouse Development Capital, has reported operating profit of £84.9 million on a turnover of £3.8 billion during 2003. However, the company carried interest charges of £92 million, which inevitably delivered an overall loss of £7.1 million on the year. Coral's debt comes from the heavy £860 million price tag Charterhouse paid to purchase the company from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity last year. There is some speculation that Coral could attempt to float on the London Stock Exchange later this year with a price of about £1.3 billion.

Still a Loss, but Making Great Improvement

Leisure Spread Ltd., an Irish telephone and Internet betting company, has reported a loss of €32,852 for the year ended March 2003, an improvement over the previous year's loss of €635,000. The company experienced a rise in fixed odds betting turnover from €300,161 in 2002 to €7.7 million last year. Leisure Spread drew €50 in spread betting turnover last year and expects to report €80 this year. The company's operating loss was just €23,259, but it opted to pay the government's betting tax rather than pass it on to its customers.

National Lottery Growth Ahead of Schedule

Camelot Group Plc, the operator of Britain's National Lottery, has returned the Lottery to growth for the first time in six years--one full year ahead of schedule. The company collected £4,614.6 million in total sales in the financial year ended March 31, 2004, after taking £4.6 billion the previous year. Camelot is now selling £88 million in tickets per week, which is £40 million more than when the National Lottery launched with just one game in 1994. Figures for each of the year's four quarters show sustained quarter on quarter growth throughout the year, with £1.1 billion in the first quarter, £1.145 billion in the second quarter, £1.16 billion in the third, and £1.2 billion in the fourth.

Reports Released

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (HET) has reported revenue of $1.13 billion for the second quarter, a record that is 4.5 percent higher than last year's second quarter total of $1.08 billion. The company also set second-quarter records for property EBITDA, which rose 6.2 percent to $301.1 million, for adjusted earnings per share, which rose 6.8 percent to 79 cents, for income from operations, which rose 10.4 percent to $202.4 million, and for net income, which rose 17.6 percent to $90.2 million.