Amaya Revenues Up 8% to $1.15BN in 2016

Amaya Inc has released its full year earnings, revealing record revenues of $1.15 billion for the whole of 2016, up by 8% compared to the $1.07 billion that was collected in 2015. From that tally, adjusted net earnings soared by 26% to $366.7 million, while the firm’s net income improved to $45 million versus a loss of $15.2 million posted during the previous year.
One of the key points to come from the latest results is that the revenues derived from its PokerStars product was fairly flat in 2016, with the segment now representing just 73.2% of the company’s overall revenues, compared to 82.7% for 2015. However, Amaya’s decision to use its database of 100 million plus registered players to promote its online casino and sports book has paid dividends, with these verticals accounting for much of its growth last year.
As a result, Amaya’s other gambling options currently account for 25.8% of its revenues compared to 17.2% for the previous year, and commenting on the development CEO Rafi Ashkenazi stated:
“Our proactive changes to the poker ecosystem and customer-acquisition initiatives continue to reverse certain negative trends and we are starting to see organic growth in that business, our casino offering exceeded expectations as we introduced limited marketing campaigns and focused on our cross-sell efforts, and we continued to build and develop our sportsbook.
The positive trend was also reflected in Amaya’s fourth quarter results which noted a 5.9% increase in revenues to $310.4 million, and a 17.8% improvement in adjusted EBITDA to $147.6 million. Looking ahead, Amaya has forecast revenues of $1.2-$1.26 billion for 2017, with an adjusted EBITDA of between $560-$580 million. Furthermore, Ashkenazi managed to reduce the company’s long-term debt to $2.53 billion last year, and as he explains:
“The strong performance of our business has helped us to reduce our currency risk, lower our interest expense and accelerate the payment of the remaining amounts owed on our deferred payment obligation, all of which will allow us to continue pursuing our four strategic priorities.”