With the company expecting to imminently complete the sale of its Italian sports betting brand Betpro to an as yet unnamed third party, Gaming VC said Thursday that net gaming revenues for the year to December 15th increased by 4% to €50 million, with strong growth in both sports betting and gaming products and a negligible contribution from the recently acquired South American online gaming business Betboo.
Excluding Betboo, Gaming VC reported strong trading so far during the fourth quarter of 2009 with average daily revenues up 30% year-on-year to €166,000, its highest level in at least two years. Of this, gaming revenues increased 16% to an average €124,000 per day while sports revenues doubled to €42,000 per day.
The company said that it benefited from high sports margins of 29.5% compared to just 11.1% in the same quarter last year, derived mainly from the company’s Betaland brand.
Revenues from the newly acquired Betboo online gaming business were disappointing however, averaging just €12,000 per month since its acquisition in July.
Gaming VC recorded total net gaming revenues (NGR) of €50 million for the 350 day period ended December 15th 2009, an increase of 4% on the corresponding period last year.
The company said that it expects to imminently complete the sale of Betpro, the company’s Italian sports betting brand, to a third party for a nominal sum with an effective date of disposal of August 31st 2009. NGR from Betpro for the 8 month period ended August 31st amounted to just€0.5 million, less than 2% of the company’s total NGR over the same period.
As at December 11th 2009 the company held €18.3 million in cash at bank, having paid out €12.5 million in dividends during the course of the year.
Shares in Gaming VC Holdings S.A (Co. Profile) (AIM:GVC) have gained 4.07% to 223.75 pence per share following the announcement, hitting a new 52-week high in London this morning.