888 Holdings worked hard last year to expand its range of betting options so that it could take advantage of the seemingly insatiable appetite for online gambling.
888 now offers all four key online gaming segments. The casino division continues to provide the lion's share of group revenue, and income there rose 14 per cent to $135.1m (£94.5m). That more than offset a dip in income from poker, which slipped 4 per cent to $77.2m, while emerging offerings, including backgammon and bingo, saw income treble to $44.5m. 888 also widened its geographic footprint, launching localised services in South America and Asia. Fifteen per cent of total operating income now comes from outside the UK and Europe.
Elsewhere, 888 launched a sports betting platform called 888sport covering most key sporting events such as football, horse racing, cricket and rugby, as well as television programmes, such as Big Brother. The company also continued to expand its business-to-business offering. A recent agreement with turf bible, the Racing Post was just one of four new deals struck since the start of 2009, and follows 14 agreements secured last year.
| 888 HOLDINGS (888) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 106p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 364m | |
| TOUCH: | 106-107p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 163p | LOW: 64p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.6% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 32¢* | NET CASH: | $98m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 171 | 43.1 | 12.2 | nil |
| 2005 | 271 | 50.2 | 14.2 | nil |
| 2006 | 157 | 13.4 | 22.1 | 13.4 |
| 2007 | 213 | 38.0 | 10.3 | 6.80 |
| 2008 | 257 | 40.2 | 10.9 | 5.40 |
| % change | +20 | +6 | +6 | -21 |
Ex-div:06 May Payment:28 May *Includes intangible assets of $44.8m, or 13¢ a share £1=1.43 | ||||
