Amid business rumours that igaming operator bwin.party were looking to sell various business assets of their igaming network, bwin.party senior management issued the below statement to quash the rumours.
“Since his appointment as Chairman last month, Philip Yea has been working with the executive management team on ways in which the Group can increase shareholder value, however we can confirm that there are no plans to break-up or sell the company,”
Rumours of the igaming operator selling various igaming divisions had been reported on UK business sources, Bloomberg News, Reuters and City AM
During the past two months the Gibraltar based operator has been undertaking a strategic corporate review of its operations headed by Philip Yea. Key corporate assessment include margin control, marketing expenditure and revenue efficiency of the operator.
After an underwhelming 2013, the operator commenced 2014 with revenues up 1% to €165.7m, nevertheless net revenues were down 6% year-on-year, which the operator blamed on ISP blocking in Greece and general decline in the poker market.
bwin.party’s current under performance has been well publicized by igaming and business news sources. In February 2014 activist investor Jason Ader’s Springowl investment vehicle , who had purchased a 5.8% in the operator ordered a corporate review of the firm’s board structure, focusing on bringing new competencies and technical knowledge to the operator to aid the operators future growth and value.
Ader’s demands for board restructuring were blocked by the operators senior management and shareholders.