888 Shares Trading at an All-Time High
Shares in 888 Holdings, the parent company of 888poker, are trading at an all-time high following last month’s impressive financial figures.
888 released its annual financial report to the London Stock Exchange on March 21. Investors from around the world agreed the figures were positive and that the company is moving in the right direction; they helped push the share price to 279.50 pence per share (at the time of writing), which values the company at £995.08 million.
Revenue increased 13 percent to $520.8 million helped by a 21 percent increase in casino revenue to $279.3 million. Sports revenue soared to $51.9 million, a rise of 49 percent. The only real negative points were poker revenue decreased three percent to $84.4 million and bingo revenue dropped by five percent to $41.8 million.
What excited investors was profit before tax weighed in at $59.2 million, an increase of some 82 percent on 2015’s figures.
888 Holdings B2C Revenue
| Product | 2016 figures | 2015 figures | Change reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino | $279.3 million | $230.6 million | 21% |
| Poker | $84.4 million | $86.7 million | (3%) |
| Sport | $51.9 million | $34.8 million | 49% |
| Bingo | $41.8 million | $44.0 million | (5%) |
Some of the operational highlights of 2016, according to 888, included:
- A 27 percent increase of active players and a 23 percent increase of first-time depositors on casino
- Active sports players increased 49 percent and first time depositors increased 52%
- Poker first-time depositors increased six percent
- 45 percent revenue growth in Spain made it the second largest market for 888
"2016 was another fantastic year for 888 during which we continued to deliver very strong organic revenue and profit growth," said 888 CEO Itai Frieberger in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. "This was again underpinned by further outstanding progress in casino, sport and across regulated markets.
"888's further expansion in the U.K., Spain and Italy is a strong demonstration of the Group's ability to drive excellent growth and build leading market positions across regulated markets as the industry continues to head in this direction."
Despite issues with currency, he said revenue has increased 18 percent on year at a constant currency to US$546.4 million, while also keeping healthy margins and increasing profit before tax.
"These strong results demonstrate the truly outstanding underlying momentum in the business," Frieberger said. "In addition, the Group's strong free cash flow and confidence in the outlook has enabled the Board to propose a 25 percent increase in total dividend for the year."
Already this year, current trading remains healthy. Average daily revenue increased 11 percent from the previous year at constant currency.
"888 is a fast-growing operator with the majority of its revenue now generated from regulated markets," he said. "The Group is truly diversified with successful operations under 10 licences, four established B2C product verticals and an outstanding B2B offer."
Frieberger attributes 888's success to its platform and skilled team.
"The Board continues to see a number of significant growth opportunities for 888 both in new and existing markets and we look forward to another exciting year of progress," he said.
