PartyGaming Anticipates Good Full Year Results
Published: Thursday, December 08, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
PARTY GAMING ANTICIPATES GOOD FULL YEAR RESULTS
World's largest online poker room operator set to beat analyst predictions
Shareholders at PartyGaming plc may be chilling the champagne this week in anticipation of some good company news. The world's largest Internet poker operator expects full-year earnings to beat analysts' estimates after revenue growth accelerated at its PartyPoker site and more players used the company's online casinos.
Daily poker revenue rose 14 percent to $2.67 million in the two months ended Nov. 30 compared with the average for the previous quarter, Gibraltar-based PartyGaming revealed in a trading statement. Daily casino revenue is as much as 7 times higher than the average for the third quarter after blackjack was added on Oct. 8.
PartyGaming is thought to be benefiting from a switch that saw its 9 million poker players migrate to an upgraded platform that excludes marketing partners such as Empire Online Ltd. Empire this week sued the company for alleged breach of contract, but PartyGaming spokesmen said it is "highly confident'' of a successful outcome to any litigation.
Sounding far more optimistic than earlier this year, CEO Richard Segal said: "Our business has continued to perform well across the board during the fourth quarter with both our poker and casino businesses showing strong growth. Cross-selling of products means 40 percent of PartyPoker players now play both poker and blackjack," he said.
Revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the year ending Dec. 31 are "...likely to be ahead of consensus market expectations,'' the company said.
PartyGaming controls 51 percent of the online poker market. The number of days regular users played poker and casino games increased 38 percent to 8.4 million, the company said. The average number of new players signing up to PartyPoker was in line with the company's estimates at 2,455 per day, according to company, which is targeting 800,000 new poker players for the year.
According to research company Christensen Capital Advisors, online poker grew to a $1 billion business in 2004 from $90 million in 2002. The industry's growth will slow to 60 percent in 2006 and to 30 percent a year later from 130 percent in 2005.
PartyGaming earns 87 percent of its revenue in the U.S.
Related Pages on Online-Casinos.com:
- Partypoker Review
- Starluck Casino Review (PartyGaming's Online Casino)
