Norbert Teufelberger, chief executive officer of bwin.party, said that despite having suffered a year-on-year drop in revenue during 2014, the online gaming operator was still able to make “solid” progress.
Full-year revenue amounted to €611.9 million ($652 million), which represents a year-on-year decline of 6% on the €652.4 million posted in the previous 12 months.
Bwin.party’s sports betting business remains its main source of revenue after generating €231.7 million in 2014, up 1% on the previous year.
However, its casino and games, poker and bingo businesses all suffered losses in revenue during 2014.
Elsewhere, the operator’s full-year clean earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also fell from €108 million in 2013 to €101.2 million in the past 12 months.
In addition, operating profit plummeted from a positive figure of €51.9 million in the previous year to a negative result of €97.9 million in 2014, while profit after tax fell from a plus of €41.1 million to minus €94.3 million.
Bwin.party also noted that it would be paying shareholders and depositary interest holders a final dividend of 1.89 pence per ordinary share. The dividend remains subject to shareholder approval at the operator’s Annual General Meeting on May 21.
Teufelberger remains upbeat about the operator’s performance in the year and is hopeful about its potential for growth in 2015.
“We have made solid progress this year in growing our share of revenues from nationally regulated and/or taxed markets, increasing our mobile footprint and reducing our cost base,” Teufelberger said.
“However, the full year impact of ISP blocking in Greece coupled with the structural decline of regulated poker markets in Continental Europe affected our overall financial performance for the year.
“Having announced our shift to a label-led approach in August, we are now accelerating our transformation.
“This programme is already improving our operational effectiveness and customer focus, both of which are key drivers of our long-term financial performance, with particular opportunities flowing from the commercialisation of our technology through our new Studios business unit.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
