Mattingley confirmed as 888 CEO
Mattingley officially appointed CEO after overseeing 26% rise in group revenues in FY2011.
888’s former deputy chairman Brian Mattingley has been officially appointed group CEO, the company has confirmed as it announced its results for the year ending 31 December 2011.
Since stepping in as interim CEO to replace Gigi Levy, who left the company in April last year, Mattingley has overseen a turnaround in the group’s fortunes, posting the group’s second-highest half-year revenues in August 2011 followed by a 42% year-on-year rise in Q3 revenues and 28% growth in the final quarter of the year. This has resulted in a 26% rise in the group’s revenues for the year, up from US$262.1m to $331m, with EBITDA rising from $28.6m to $55.6m for the year.
Chairman of 888 Richard Kilsby commented: “We are delighted that Brian has agreed to take the Chief Executive Officer position on a permanent basis. Brian has been a member of the 888 Board since the IPO and has an excellent knowledge of both the business and the wider industry.
“The exceptional results reported today are a testament to Brian and his team, and the renewed focus on core competencies that he has instilled throughout the business. 888 is in an excellent position and, as the industry moves towards a greater emphasis on regulation, notably in the United States, his experience will enable 888 to capitalise on the opportunities ahead.”
B2C revenues for the full year rose 28%, up to $284.2m from $221.7m in 2010, driven by an increase across all product verticals. Poker continued its strong performance, with revenues for the year up 58% to $60.6m from $38.4m, with number of active players up 77% year-on-year. This was aided by the launch of the Poker 6 platform, which has seen Dragonfish soar from 13th to 4th in global liquidity rankings in just over a year.
Casino posted a 27% rise in revenues, growing from $116.9m to $148m, with the operator recently launching a new casino platform, Casino 50, similar to Poker 6. Growth in bingo was slower but still rose 8% to $54m for the year, while the group announced that it paid $20m of the outstanding balance due for the acquisition of Wink Bingo in February, with a final $3.8m to be paid in May.
The company announced that the operations of its B2B arm Dragonfish, which saw revenues rise 16% to $46.9m for the year, has undergone “a change of approach,” focusing on fewer deals with greater potential for enhancing revenues and profit.
These deals include the agreement with Caesars Interactive to supply poker software for the US, after the company’s licensing agreement covering Caesars’ European markets, signed in 2009, was extended to cover the States. Dragonfish has also applied for a gaming service provider licence in the State, after the B2B deal with Caesars was approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Nevada Gaming Control Board last year.
The company also revealed that it will focus on exploiting opportunities in the US market in order to offset the potentially adverse effect of the change in UK egaming tax, announced last week.
Mattingley commented that he was “delighted” to take charge of the company after a “phenomenal” year: “2011 has been a phenomenal year for us, refocusing on our core product offer and the success of our Poker 6 platform has delivered exceptional growth across all key metrics
“We are more than ready to take advantage of liberalisation in the industry. We have a unique position in the US allowing the launch of a real money offering immediately as either federal or state based regulation is finalised and upon licensing by gaming authorities,” he said.
Following the results Nick Batram of Peel Hunt retained his Buy recommendation, saying that the company was in a strong enough position to weather the effects of UK regulation: “888 now has the products and management team to exploit the medium to long-term opportunities presented by the online gaming industry.
“There are challenges and a UK point of consumption tax will have a significant impact but the group has effectively got a three year heads up “ time enough to soften the blow. 888 is now a far more attractive partner than it was 12 months ago and we would expect more developments in this area,” Batram explained.
This was reiterated by Simon French of Panmure Gordon, who raised his firm’s target price from 84p to 87p, also retaining a Buy recommendation, commenting that Mattingley’s appointment “should be taken well by the market.”