Several dozen publicly held interactive gaming companies are reporting, acquiring, floating, spinning off, merging, de-listing, rising and falling in stock markets all over the world. Every Monday IGN wraps the financial happenings of the Net betting biz from the previous week into a nifty little package just for you.
eUniverse Filing Reports Late
eUniverse, Inc. (EUNI), which owns and operates several online businesses, including skill-based gaming companies such as skilljam.com, gave a corporate and financial update on Wednesday, saying that it will file its overdue report for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 within the next two weeks. A little later it will file its amended reports with restated results for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2003. eUniverse expects to file its report for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2003 on time.
eUniverse, also said it plans to consolidate all of its online skill-based gaming assets and holdings into a newly formed subsidiary called GameUniverse, Inc.
Gambling International Profits Fall
Gambling International (GGI) said its pretax profits before interest in the first half of the year fell to £128,000 from £557,000 the year earlier. Turnover increased to £8.748 million from £6.552 million. The company blamed local competition for lowering profits at its Miyadera parlor, but says that turnover and profit margins should improve in the second half due to its investment in new gaming machines.
Centrebet Sold to SportOdds
Just weeks before its scheduled merger with Tabcorp Holdings (TAH), Jupiters (JUP) sold its Centrebet online betting group to SportOdds, the largest privately owned sports betting company in Australia, for AU$46.55 million in cash. The sale should be completed Oct. 27, three days after shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Jupiters and Tabcorp merger proposal.
Who Will Head BSkyB?
Yahoo.com reports that Pirc, the corporate governance lobby group, says the BSkyB's (BSY) shareholders are worried that the appointment of the next CEO could be based on nepotism rather than objective criteria. Many sources indicate that Rupert Murdoch wants his son James to take the position, but the London Telegraph says that BSkyB's independent directors have hired an international firm of headhunters to find a list of candidates for the post.
World Gaming Shares Soar
World Gaming (WGMGY) prices continued to rise last week, peaking Wednesday at a new 52-week high of $0.51. More shares changed hands last week (1,475,900 shares) than had in the previous 9 weeks combined. On Wednesday, 612,000 shares were traded--the highest one-day volume in at least 2 years. The company hasn't released any statements since Sept. 22, when it released its AGM statement.
Reports Released
ukbetting plc (UKB) experienced a solid first half, raising its overall turnover 103 percent from £13.6 million to £27.6 million. Gaming turnover has soared to £24.1 million, up 84 percent from last year's mark of £13.1 million. The company recorded a gross profit of £3.8 million and earned only £724,000 in the first half of 2002.
ukbetting now has a customer base of 154,678, while it had only 84,105 at the end of June 2002 and 133,000 at the end of December 200. The company attributes its success to last year's acquisition of struggling sports content sites, including teamtalk.com and sportinglife.com, which now attract 3.45 million users each month. Executive Vice-Chairman, Peter Dubens, said that the next half of the year will be about achieving further turnover growth and improving margins.
ukbetting has recently hired Trevor Beaumont, former Racing and Trading Director of Corals and Managing Director of Eurobet, as Managing Director of Betting, and Alex Holt, former Marketing Manager for William Hill's Casino and Poker, as manager of new product promotion.
ukbetting - First Half Report
International Lottery & Totalizator Systems, Inc. (ITSI), a provider of computerized wagering systems, equipment, and services to lottery and racing organizations worldwide, has reported its financial results for three months ended July 31, 2003. Revenues were $2.3 million compared to $1.0 million last year, and net loss for the quarter was $0.8 million, or $0.06 per share, compared with last year's figures of $1.3 million or $0.10 per share.
ILTS President Mark Michalko said revenues were consistent with expectations and "reflect the nature of a business in which contracts are often subject to timing of formal bidding processes."
International Lottery & Totalizator Systems, Inc. - First Half Report