888's Profits Slump 57% To $15.1 Million In 2010

British online gaming group 888 Holdings plc has just released its financial figures for the whole of 2010 showing a massive 57% slump in its pre-tax profits, which fell to $15.1m from $34.6m in 2009.
Despite the company’s revenue growing by 6% to $262.1 million throughout the year, including a 13.5% increase in B2C revenue to $221.7m, 888 also recorded a 21.2% fall in its B2B revenue to $40.4m from $51.3m a year earlier.
Combined with an increase in marketing costs and administrative expenses, the overall result was to produce a 37% drop in 888’s 2010 EBITDA earnings to $28.6 million (17.7 million pounds).
888 Holdings online operations include casino, poker and bingo, and the latest worrying figures have prompted analysts to ponder whether 888’s online bingo would soon be following the decline witnessed in its online poker sector over the past few years.
However, CEO Gigi Levy was quick to dispel and such rumours, and commenting on the latest set of financial figures for 2010 said:
“Following a challenging start to the year 888 finished 2010 strongly. Due to steps taken throughout the year we ended the year with record 18% quarterly sequential growth in Q4, and Revenue grew 6% compared with 2009.”
Going forward, Gigi Levy then added: “888 has begun the year with strong current trading and continues to make good progress across all segments of the business.”
“We expect that soon to come further improvements in our product offering will lead to increased success in driving players to our sites and retaining them going forward. This, alongside our expanding licensee base within Dragonfish, puts us in a strong position for the future.”
888 Holdings’ share price has ranged between 34.50 and 105.60 over a 52 week period, and following the release of the company’s figures, its shares are currently trading at 42.75.