SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Igaming software supplier Playtech reported a strong opening half to 2014, with revenues up 21% to €214.4 million (£171 million). The software supplier reported further good news, with adjusted EBITDA up 28% year on year to €98 million (£77.9 million)
The strong financial performance by the software and igaming services supplier, will see them pay a special dividend of £100m.
Playtechs performance had been adjusted in order to strip out the one off gain fromits William Hill stake sale in 2013. The company posted a pretax profit of €98.0 million, up from €68.0 million the year before, as revenue rose to €214.4 million, from €176.8 million.
Revenue growth was predominantly driven by the company’s Casino segment, which posted revenue of €116.2 million, up from €90.3 million in the previous year.
Services revenue rose 18.7% due to the acquisition of PokerStrategy.com in 2013, although excluding this acquisition revenue declined 7.4% as licensees re-evaluated their regulatory focus.
Sports revenue rose 34.9% to €12.3 million, from €9.1 million, as the FIFA World Cup boosted web revenues.
Bingo Revenue declined 9.4% as larger licensees opted to take further product verticals with an associated change in royalty structure, and marketing reduced. Poker revenue declined 7.5%.
Playtech said on Thursday that profit was likely to come in ahead of forecasts this year, with new contracts in Mexico, Britain and Italy underpinning optimism at the online gambling software company.
Performance Overview
