Webis profits up 64% in FY14
Increase in turnover at horseracing business WatchandWager helps drive full-year profits to US$0.46m
International egaming firm Webis Holdings chalked up a net profit increase of 64% for it 2014 financial year, driven by “excellent progress” in its WatchandWager pools betting site.
The group posted an overall profit of US$460,000 (£290,000) for the full-year ended 31 May 2014, up from $0.28m in 2013 on the back of a 2.1% increase in gross profit to $8.7m (£5.6m).
Growth was driven by a 24% increase in turnover on WatchandWager to $124.5m during the period, with $88m of the total coming from the US where it operates the Cal Expo racetrack in California.
But new deals in Asia and Europe with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Swedish Horse Racing Totalisator Board helped drive turnover in those jurisdictions up 69% and 237% respectively.
“WatchandWager.com, the group’s pool-wagering and racetrack operation has made some excellent strategic progress, particularly with increasing the availability of premium global wagering content for our customers,” Webis non-exec chairman Denham Eke, said.
“The group’s sportsbook operation, betinternet.com, has remained resilient against some strong regulatory headwinds that are impacting the online gambling industry as a whole,” he added.
However, WatchandWager posted a $39,000 loss for the period having made a $15,000 profit in 2013.
The firm said the delayed rollout of its primary website watchandwager.com and its mobile application in the US market had negatively impacted the results.
Webis’ Betinternet brand saw turnover remain largely flat year-on-year, increasing 3% to $156.8m.
The operator said its fixed odds business produced good growth due to the increasing popularity of in-play, which accounted for 73% of all fixed odds wagers during the period.
But online casino activity reduced due to the “changing government perceptions” towards online gaming in Singapore, one of its key Asian markets, where turnover was down 7.5% to $112m.
“The changing government perceptions towards online gaming in Singapore meant we were obliged to curtail some of our casino and gaming activity in February.
“This was one of the external challenges in the second half of the year which resulted in a lower overall full-year margin than had been anticipated,” Webis said.