Betfair: group revenue for online gaming company rose past £200 million
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)Betfair revenue rises with strategy shift planned
BETFAIR on Thursday posted an increase of five per cent for group revenue to £200.6 million as the online gaming company announced their results for the six-month period ending October 31, 2012.
A strong performance by sports and mobile betting was behind the increase in revenue, with underlying EBITDA down two per cent to £42.3 million as investment in marketing outweighed revenue growth.
In a shift in strategy, Betfair will focus their attentions on markets where regulations are clear, having recently pulled out of Germany and Greece due to regulatory uncertainty.
CEO Breon Corcoran said: "Recent regulatory developments have been challenging and we are reducing our exposure to markets with an uncertain regulatory future."
Commenting on the results, Corcoran added: "This is a solid set of results for the first six months of the year. We are now pursuing a new and more focused strategy to address the business challenges and exploit its market opportunities.
"The review we have carried out over the past four months has demonstrated a number of strengths. Betfair has a unique product offering, strong brand affinity and scale in the UK. However, we have also identified a number of areas requiring change and fixing these will take time."
Plans are afoot to make the business leaner, with £20 million in savings already identified.
Following the release of the results, Betfair's share price rose to 769 pence (from 764.09 pence) at 9am on Thursday.
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