Playtech Revenue Up By 20% To €83.9m In Q4 2012

Playtech has just released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012, revealing a 20% increase in revenue to €83.9 million from €69.6 million for the same quarter in 2011. In addition, full-year revenue was up by an impressive 53% to €317.5 million from €207.5 million in 2011, while gross profit was also up by 51% to €368.1 million from €243.6 million.
Breaking the 2012 revenue figures down further, growth in Asia increased by 96%, compared to 40% for Europe, although Asia’s share of Playtech’s revenue dropped to 67% during the year from 74% in 2011, while Europe’s share of revenue rose to 26% from 20% a year earlier.
Furthermore, the gaming software development company’s share of William Hill Online (WHO) generated record profits of €15 million for Q4, up a whopping 71% from Q4 2011, with the full-year share up by 40% to €50.6 million from €36.1 million in 2011. However, despite Playtech currently owning 29% of WHO, William Hill is expected to soon decide whether or not to  exercise its option and buy-out the company’s stake in a deal that could potentially be worth around €400 million ($626 million). Conversely, Playtech saw earnings from its iPoker network fall with online poker revenue down 27% to €4 million in Q4 2012, and down by 18% to €17.8 million throughout the whole of 2012 from €21.8 million in 2011.
The overall results, however, were encouraging and commenting on Playtech’s prospects going forward, company Chief Executive Mori Weizer: ““The Company achieved robust organic growth and benefited from innovative cross-selling initiatives with several major licensees. Playtech’s new product and licensee launches, together with the launch of slots in Italy, have exceeded expectations and build further on the Company’s solid growth platform. As a result of the impressive performance in Q4 and since the beginning of the year, the board is very comfortable with market expectations for the full year and looks forward to 2013 with confidence.”