Mybet lowers revenue projections after pferwetten sale

Mybet has lowered its revenue projections for 2016 by up to ?4m (?3.2m), after closing the sale of its 50.2% stake in horse betting operator pferwetten.de.

The bookmaker had previously projected an 8-12% year-on-year increase in 2016 revenues to ?63m (?50m), but has revised it down to ?59m (?39.8m)-?62m (?49.2m) following the deal.

Chief executive officer, Zene Ossko, admitted last week that the sale was necessitated by a cash crunch in the business and was a “decision we would rather not have taken”.

The sale raised ?9.9m in cash for the operator, with more than half of that being used to pay debts to bondholders and pferwetten.de itself.

Mybet said it will receive ?3.5m in “free liquid funds” after the various transactions involved with the deal.

The company was previously estimated to have little more than ?1m in cash reserves, after reporting an 11% year-on-year drop in Q1 revenues, driven by a double-digit drop in both online sports betting and gaming revenue.

A source close to the German gaming market told eGaming Review: “I think mybet really needs this cash to be safe. It has a huge demand for money since the new website is taking several months longer than expected.”

Ossko also told EGR last week the company could potentially be an attractive acquisition target for larger operators in the German market.