NetPlay puts bingo assets up for sale
NetPlay TV is inviting offers on its bingo assets as part of a restructuring strategy aimed at returning the company to profitability.
Interactive gaming business NetPlay TV is inviting offers on its bingo assets, including its Bingos operating arm and domains including Bingo.it, as part of a restructuring aimed at returning the business to profitability, a proposal document circulated to interested parties has shown.
The AIM-listed operator yesterday raised £2.5m through a successful share placing and is now inviting “expressions of interest” in its Bingos business and associated domains. Bingos was acquired by NetPlay for 8m in 2008.
eGR understands the operator is seeking local marketing and licensing partners for its Spanish and Italian businesses, including the Bingo.it domain believed to be worth an estimated £1m, but is looking to sell its UK division outright, reflecting the relative saturation of the competitive UK bingo market. NetPlay also owns the Bingo.fr and Bingo.de domains.
With bingo revenues accounting for just £1.7m of the operator’s £11m revenues in the first half of 2010, the divestment of its bingo assets will free up the operator to refocus on its core online and interactive TV casino businesses, spearheaded by its SuperCasino, Challenge Jackpot and Roulette Nation brands.
The interactive gaming company’s share price has slumped to less than 5p in the wake of its announcement in late September that first-half losses had more than doubled to £7.9m from £3.2m, with the company blaming heavy investment in an unsuccessful trial of its BingoStars product on UK terrestrial channel ITV1. The company’s share price had climbed to 28p in April 2009 following the announcement of the deal with ITV for BingoStars and its Roulette Nation interactive TV shows.
The deadline for expressions of interest is 14 November.
NetPlay TV declined to comment.