Regulatory News Feed
Acquisition of Gamebookers
03/08/2006
PartyGaming Plc 03 August 2006 3 August 2006 PartyGaming Plc ("PartyGaming") Acquisition of Gamebookers PartyGaming, the world's leading online gaming company, announces today that it has acquired the business and assets of Gamebookers, an online sports betting business, from Trident Gaming PLC ("Trident") for an estimated net cash consideration of ?102 million (after estimated working capital adjustments of ?3.0 million). Of the net consideration, ?81 million is payable on completion and ?21 million is payable in 18 months (less any potential claims under the acquisition agreement). Established in 1999, Gamebookers provides online sports betting in 12 languages and has more than 250,000 registered customers in 140 countries and 53,318 active customers. It does not accept bets from customers based in the US. The business offers single, combination and live bets on a wide range of international sporting events. In the 12 month period ended 31 December 2005, the business took over 25 million sports bets, equivalent to an average of 124 bets per customer per month, with an average bet size of ?7.1. The business also operates a small but growing online casino, and recently added a poker room. Gamebookers' sports betting activities currently operate under an Antiguan gaming license and the majority of the operations, risk management and customer services are run by a cost-effective in-house processing centre in Bulgaria. In the year ended 31 December 2005, Gamebookers took wagers (net of bonuses) of ?179.4 million, generated gross win of ?10.1 million, and produced an EBITDA of ?4.6 million. PartyGaming expects the business to generate an EBITDA of between ?8.0 million and ?9.0 million in the current year (before the benefits of cross-selling), reflecting the operational improvements made following a change of ownership in July 2005 and increased investment in marketing in the first half of 2006. Gamebookers' active customer numbers have been growing strongly and rose from 26,818 in the quarter ended 30 June 2005 to 53,318 in the quarter ended 30 June 2006, with the number of bets placed per month also increasing strongly over the same period. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for PartyGaming in the current financial year. The foregoing statement should not be interpreted as a profit forecast or to mean that PartyGaming's future earnings per share will necessarily be greater than or equal to its historical earnings per share. Commenting on the acquisition, Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer of PartyGaming, said: "The acquisition of Gamebookers is an important step forward in diversifying PartyGaming's business from both a product and geographic perspective. Gamebookers is a well-established and profitable operator with proven risk management skills and scaleable proprietary software. We believe that sports betting will be a valuable addition to our integrated gaming platform, which we expect to provide excellent cross-selling opportunities for our expanding base of customers outside the US." Contacts PartyGaming Plc Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director +350 78700 John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications +44 (0)20 7337 0100 Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke Notes For Gamebookers, registered customers are customers who have registered their personal details with Gamebookers and active customers are registered customers who have placed a bet in a given quarter. About PartyGaming Plc Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming company and owns and operates PartyPoker.com, the world's largest online poker room, as well as EmpirePoker.com. Other online gaming activities include casino, principally through PartyCasino.com and StarluckCasino.com, online bingo through PartyBingo.com and backgammon on PartyGammon.com. PartyGaming Plc is listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY. In the year to 31 December 2005, the Group had revenues of $977.7m and generated Clean EBITDA of $583.7m and profit before tax of $324.9m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
