Party reveals strong Q3 numbers
PartyGaming sees revenue rise 9% in Q3 compared to same period last year. Simon Duffy confirmed as non-executive chairman of the merged Party/Bwin company.
PartyGaming has seen its revenue grow 9% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, and has confirmed Simon Duffy will be non-executive chairman of the merged Party/Bwin company.
In an interim statement released today, PartyGaming announced that group revenue had risen from 78.3m in Q3 2009 to 85.3m in Q3 2010, with growth in all verticals except poker. Sports betting revenue was up 86% to 5.4m (2009: 2.9m) due mainly to the World Cup. Bingo revenue grew 36% to 13.1m in the third quart of this year compared to 9.6m in the same period last year, mainly driven by the acquisition of Cashcade.
Poker revenue was down 5% to 29.6m in the third quarter, compared to 31.3m last year, due to “continuing difficulties competing with US-facing poker sites”.
However, Party announced that its performance in France “has been strong” and that its number of daily players on the French network had increased every month since launch.
Jim Ryan, CEO, said: “Total revenue was up by 9% year-on-year with growth in all products except poker, despite the impact of having closed our French casino business at the end of June 2010. Excluding French casino, total revenue would have been up by 12% year-on-year, driven by casino growth in other markets, acquisitions and a strong performance in sports betting.
“We have been encouraged by the strong start from our nascent French poker network that went live on 1 July 2010. A strong performance by PartyPoker in France has been further boosted by the launch of PMU’s poker business in France as well as services for AB Groupe and Aviation Club de France.
“I am also pleased to report that the proposed merger with bwin remains on track to complete at the end of Q1 2011, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals and I am delighted that Simon Duffy has agreed to become chairman of the enlarged group on completion.”
From 2007 until 2008 sixty year-old Duffy was executive chairman of central and eastern European online retailer Tradus. Prior to Tradus, he was executive vice chairman of ntl:Telewest, now Virgin Media Group, having previously been president, chief executive and chief operating officer of ntl Inc, a Nasdaq-listed company that became the major component of VMG. Prior to ntl he was chief financial officer of Orange SA and before that he was chief executive of Denmark-based wireless data company End2End AS. He joined End2End from Netherlands-based internet service provider WorldOnline International BV, where he was chief executive and deputy chairman. Previously he had spent eight years at EMI Group where he was group finance director and deputy chairman.