PartyGaming chief executive Richard Segal suggested the positive reaction of the stock market to the company’s third quarter results vindicated the company’s overall strategy for long-term growth.
“People are seeing the results of us starting to implement our strategy in earnest. The stock market is pleased that it is being reflected in our figures. We have upped the ante and it has been recognised.”
Group revenues in the third quarter to 30 September were up 32% over the same period last year to US$220m from US$166m.
During the period, poker revenues (including skins) were up 38% over the nine months. Although poker revenues over the previous quarter were up only 4%, the company said it added 209,000 new real-money players over the three-month period.
Commenting on the 4% poker revenue figures compared to the last quarter, Segal suggested “plenty of high street retailers would be happy” with 16% annualised revenue growth. “I’d also point out that it is a fast changing business and we expect 10% growth in the fourth quarter. On top of that we are seeing a very positive reaction from our customers to the new games of blackjack and Sidebets we have added onto our platform,” he said.
The yield-per-active-player day fell over both periods, down to US$16.6 from US$18.9 over three months and down to US$17.4 from US$19.1 over nine months.
Meanwhile, casino revenues were down US $2.1m over the quarter at US$11m despite an increase in new sign-ups of almost 20,000.
On the move towards a standalone, integrated platform for all PartyGaming products, Segal suggested the move was “about moving everything onto the Party platform and owning and managing it all.”
Defending the comments made by the company at the time of its interim results, Segal said the company had “always communicated with the investor community in a totally transparent and full manner.”
“That is what we have done every time we have been on the road and we will continue to do that. The facts of the matter are that the information we released to the markets at the time of the interim results is the information we had to hand at the time,” Segal said.
source : egr magazine
