Need to Know, 28 Aug: finance and football

Last Friday’s Need to Know, predictably enough, concerned mid-year financials. But don’t worry, there was some football news too.

On the finance side, both PartyGaming and 888 revealed downbeat numbers; PartyGaming’s first-half revenue down by more than a fifth on the same point in 2008, while 888’s six month operating income dipped 13% after strong growth in B2B arm Dragonfish saved it from a steeper drop.

Both sets of results also produced interesting revelations. In Party’s case, it was that chief executive Jim Ryan has a spree of acquisitions planned now that the company’s settlement with the US authorities “has opened the capital markets and allowed us to make acquisitions we wouldn’t have been able to” – and that it has $40m M&A war chest to kick things off.

For 888, however, the news was rather different, 888 chief executive Gigi Levy forced to dismiss broker speculation that a special dividend payment from the company’s own war chest was a sign that the 888 was not interested in reaching a settlement with the US DoJ.

Paddy Power also had bad news on the H1, with operating profit down more than a quarter despite growth in its online division.

Gaming VC had more positive tidings, except for Luxemburgers, combining the announcement of a 10% revenue increase with the news that it is moving its head office to the Isle of Man. As did Leisure & Gaming, which revealed amounts wagered are up more than half on the same period last year.

And not one but two sets of good news came from Sweden, with Entraction revealing that is has more than doubled operating profit and Net Entertainment revealing turnover and profit up more than half.

Now on to the football”¦

Bodog Europe signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Fulham FC today, appointing Bodog Europe as the Premier League team’s official betting and gaming partner. The news follows a host of similar ties in the last fortnight including official betting partner ties between Sportingbet and Portsmouth football club, between Betfair and Manchester United and between Asian sportsbook 188Bet and Chelsea FC.

But that wasn’t the half of it. Bwin secured the broadcast rights for the Primera and Segunda Divisións, Spanish football’s two top leagues, on the very same day that William Hill signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Primera Liga team Malaga CF, the nearest team to the massive community of British retirees and crims on the Costa del Sol.

And if that weren’t enough, Arsenal football club also signed a deal with Bettorlogic to feature its Player Pro tool on the Arsenal FC homepage this week, following bookmaker Coral’s deal with FSB Technology to launch a similar analytical tool earlier in the month.

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