IG Group to sell Extrabet
IG Group has hired accountants PwC to find a buyer for its sports spread betting arm Extrabet.
Financial spread betting business IG Group has recruited accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to find a buyer for its sports betting arm Extrabet, media reports at the weekend have suggested.
Extrabet accounts for an estimated 2% of IG Group’s overall revenues, however the business values the division at around £20m, the Sunday Times reported.
Analysts have previously questioned whether the business, which suffered a fall in revenue of more than 30% last year, is worth much. IG Group and PwC both declined to comment.
Earlier this year Extrabet chief executive Arman Tahmassebi said there was “no talk of a disposal” of its sports betting arm. IG phased out its IG Sport spread betting brand after having folded it into its Extrabet fixed-odds operation last year.
Britain’s biggest spread betting firm saw a 25% profit jump after volatile markets during the European sovereign debt crisis encouraged customers to bet more, it said during its preliminary results announcement last month. The company said new limits on trading with borrowed money in Japan could wipe out 20% of its revenues there.
The group announced that profit before taxation was up 25% to £157.6m (2009: £125.9m). Trading revenue was up 16% in the year ending 31 May 2010, increasing from £257.1m in 2009 to £298.6m. Revenues in Australia rose by more than 63% from £27.9m to £45.7m year-on-year.