A concerted advertising campaign, which boosted active players, helped explain these impressive half-year figures from NetPlay TV - which offers casino and jackpot games on satellite and late-night terrestrial television. Half-year cash profit rose 49 per cent in the period to £2.35m and the company announced a maiden dividend - leaving the shares worth a punt.
The number of active players increased 51 per cent to 36,730, with mobile and tablet users accounting for 18 per cent of new sign-ups - up from 8 per cent year-on-year. Although, acquiring customers involved considerable advertising spend - which is why NetPlay's cost of sales jumped over 40 per cent to £9.22m, with marketing costs now comprising 30 per cent of total sales. That spending rise was more than off-set by the control of fixed costs which, combined with higher revenues, meant an improvement in the cash profit margin - it rose from 16 per cent to 18 per cent. Meanwhile, a focus on the core TV casino business allowed management to sell the company's Bingo business for £0.43m.
Housebroker Singer Capital Markets has upgraded its full-year pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts by 16.5 per cent to £3.2m and 1.1p, respectively (£2.4m/0.8p: 2011).
NETPLAY TV (NPT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 11.75p | MARKET VALUE: | £33.3m | |
| TOUCH: | 11.5-12p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 12p | LOW: 8.4p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.3% | PE RATIO: | 18 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 4p* | NET CASH: | £10.5m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 9.81 | 0.27 | 0.10 | nil |
| 2012 | 13.0 | 1.61 | 0.57 | 0.15 |
| % change | +33 | +496 | +470 | - |
Ex-div: 26 Sep Payment: 18 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £5.4m, or 2p a share | ||||
