A Strategy Of Aggressive Acquisitions To Be Employed By Online Gambling Provider

During a recent interviewer of the Financial Times that took place this week, a spokesperson for Playtech said that the company was in a bullish mood. This made known the latest news that this company that provides software for online gambling, is planning a strategy of making aggressive acquisitions. This following a period of very strong growth by the company during the last months of 2007.
It was also mentioned by this spokesperson that the record level of monthly sales was helped along by the company’s largest event, the European Championship of Online Poker that had been held in December. The awarded guaranteed prizes of $2.5 million (GBP 1.26 million) was a major factor.
Playtech is involved with setting up a service with one of the largest Asia-facing online gaming operators that has yet to be announced, and they are negotiating for the first time to sign licensees in the Spanish and Italian markets, according to this spokesperson. The Asian facing service is scheduled to begin operations by the end of the first quarter. Once it receives the proper approval of regulators, there is another Asian operator with which the company is setting up a licensee agreement.

It is customary for Playtech to take a percentage cut of licensee revenue, a procedure that is unusual for software companies. In spite of the fact of this, the Financial Times reports that market analysts are saying that the company is in competition with its rivals including a company of a smaller size that is privately owned, Microgaming, and other smaller developers like CryptoLogic.

Regardless of all this, company spokesmen are saying that Playtech is very positive about the coming year.

Richard Carter, an analyst for Numis, forcasts revenues for Playtech for 2008 being unchanged but adds that they could increase by as much as 10 to 15 percent if they are able to maintain their current trading momentum. While describing Playtech as being an operator that is best in class, he also notes their dependence on only ten licensees.

For its part, Playtech says that it is sure of reaching the 2007 estimates of analysts and expects to reach a pre-tax profit of $68.8 million on $102.8 million of sales.

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