Stanley Leisure Invests in Romanian Betting Shops
Gaming company Stanley Leisure PLC's (SLY) subsidiary Stanley Fairbet Ltd. and Romanian betting company Invicta have each invested about $1 million in a joint project. Stanley's Finance director Michael Riddy told the Liverpool Daily Post that in 2004 the project would set up around 50 betting shops in Romania that would mainly concentrate on football.
Merging Tabs Doing Well
Tab Ltd.'s (TAB.AX) managing director Warren Wilson told investors at the company's annual general meeting that wagering turnover for the year was up 5.7 percent from the previous year's corresponding period.
Meanwhile, George Chapman, chairman for UNiTAB Ltd. (UTB.AX) (the company that is set to merge with Tab) said his company is also growing. He added, however, that growth would not continue at the same rate as it had in 2002-2003. Chapman expects turnover growth to follow growth in household disposal income and average weekly earnings. He said Queensland's turnover is up 6.3 percent, South Australia's is up 7.8 percent and Northern Territory's growth is negligible. He added that fixed-odds betting is up 65 percent in Queensland, 46 percent in South Australia and 38 percent in Northern Territory.
Chimera Closer to Trading on OTC
Chimera Tecnology Corp. (Pink Sheets:CMRD), an Internet gaming software provider and licensor, announced that it has completed its audited financial statement and its Form 10 and has filed them with regulatory bodies so that it may begin trading on the OTC-BB platform.
Youbet Report and Conference Call
Online horse racing simulcast and wagering company Youbet.com Inc. (UBET) will provide its preliminary, unaudited third-quarter financial results today. It will also host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. (EST) that will be accessible via webcast on Youbet.com.
High Hopes for AngelCiti
AngelCiti Entertainment Inc.'s (OTC.AGEL) president George Gutierrez provided a general address to shareholders, laying out its anticipated figures for the next four years. He said AngelCiti's management expects its revenue to grow from $16,041,716 in fiscal 2004 to $175,427,229 in fiscal 2007. They also expect expenses to grow from $11,701,176 in 2004 to $73,446,183 in 2007 and EBITDA to grow $4,340,540 in 2004 to $55,903,461.
Sportingbet Improving, but Still Losing
U.K.-based Sportingbet (SBT), which issued an earnings warning to shareholders earlier in the month, says that all of its regions are profitable for the first time during the half-year ended in September, although it has experienced a larger net loss overall. Sportingbet's first-half loss before taxes was £5.7 million, compared to last year's £3.8 million. Group turnover fell from £428.6 million last year to £410.9 million, and operating profit fell from £2.2 million to £800,000. The company's registered users, which had numbered just under 900,00 before the six months, has grown to over a million.
Sportingbet also said it will change the end of its fiscal year to July 31 to better balance its reporting cycle.
Rank's New Site Takes More Bets
Rank Group (RNK) says its new Mecca Games site has seen a huge increase in handle. The new site is part of an attempt to attract a wider audience by moving away from sports betting and adding more instant-win games as well as film reviews and horoscopes. About £100,000 is being bet daily on meccagames.com. The old Rank site saw about £65,000 a day in bets.
Reports Released
Boss Media's (BOSS) Interim Report for the period from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 shows that net sales for the third quarter grew to $4.4 million from $3.7 million in the same period last year. Net sales so far for the year are up to $12.9 million compared to last year's $11.1 million. The companies net profit for the third quarter was $0.75 million and earnings per share were $0.036.
Boss Media - Third Quarter Interim
The latest quarterly figures for Camelot Group plc, the U.K. National Lottery operator, show that the company's sales were at £1.1 billion for the third quarter in a row, marking the longest period in five years in which sales have not fallen. Camelot is maintaining its pledge to stop declining sales and return to growth by 2005. A spokesman for the company attributes some of the success to the new Daily Game launched in September. Non-Lotto games are growing by 32 percent year-on-year.
Camelot has also released its report for the year ended March 31. The report shows that sales for the year were £4,574.5 million, down 5.4 percent from the previous year's £4,834.4 million. There was a 12 percent drop in Lotto sales, but a 20.6 increase in other games. The company took in £42.3 million in profit compared to £57.8 million the year before.
Camelot Group plc - 2003 Annual Report