NEWS / THE BRIEFING /
NEWS DIGEST
THIS MONTH’S TOP STORIES INCLUDING FULL TILT SPORTSBOOK
PROGRESS AND PADDY POWER’S SOCIAL SPORTS BETTING APP
A FRESH START
Ladbrokes’ digital business may
have suffered a near 18% fall in
Q1 revenues, but CEO Richard
Glynn believes the operator
has put in place the “building
blocks” for future growth after
having completed its migration
to Playtech’s entire Information
Management Solution (IMS).
Completing the migration had
been Ladbrokes’ principle focus
for the first half of this year in
order to offer a complete suite
of Playtech-powered products,
but Glynn insisted there was an
“awful lot more to do”.
“From a product perspective,
we have now put in place the
building blocks from which to
deliver a seamless, high-quality
offer to our customers,” Glynn
said during an analyst briefing
following the results.
Adverts using the new ‘The
Ladbrokes Life’ slogan launched
in May, featuring five characters
designed to represent different
types of bettor – The Professor,
the Gut Truster, Mr Brightside,
Generous John and the Believer.
WORLD CUP FEVER
It’s all go on the sportsbook
front as this summer’s football
World Cup draws closer. New
kid on the block Colossus Bets
looks set to cash in as it revealed
more than a dozen new B2B
clients will take its flagship
pools betting product. Gaming
platform supplier bit8 is among
them, along with Betfair and
Boylesports.
Meanwhile a trio of UK-based
media brands launched their new
sportsbooks last month in time
for the tournament, including
the Trinity Mirror football betting
app created in conjunction with
Paddy Power, and newspaper
14
The Sun which trademarked
rights to ‘Sun Bets’ for its sports
betting product.
Full Tilt is also pressing ahead
with its sportsbook plans with
the company believed to be
considering an in-house solution
as it begins recruitment for a new
sportsbook role at its Dublin office.
Plans have progressed in recent
weeks with the company making
its first public admission of plans
for a Full Tilt sportsbook by
advertising for the role of head of
sportsbook customer experience
at Full Tilt’s Dublin offices.
Paddy Power launched a
revamped version of its social
sports betting app during May
complete with a new title and
new social features. The realmoney Facebook app has been
renamed Paddy Power Social,
previously Paddy Power InPlay, and includes a redesigned
landing page and new ‘thumbs
up’ logo, similar to the Facebook
‘like’ button.
BWIN.PARTY POOPER
The war of words between
bwin.party and activist investor
Jason Ader rumbled on in the
build up to the firm’s AGM on 22
May, with both sides attempting
to impose their influence on
shareholders. Ader, who owns
5.25% of bwin.party, remained
keen to make substantial
changes to the operator’s
executive board and sought
external backing from an external
proxy advisory firms over his four
directorial nominations.
Meanwhile, bwin.party
recommended its shareholders
vote against SpringOwl’s
proposals and claimed the
investor had not provided any
insight into its strategic vision for
the operator.
HE CITY
IN T
BETSSON (BETS-B.ST)
2014 X HIGH 246 x LOW 179
An acquisitive strategy has put Betsson in
good shape for future growth and investors
will have been particularly pleased by
strong mobile performance – previously
somewhat lacking – in the first part of the
year. A 2014 low of SEK179 in February has
been left behind with the share reaching
SEK244 at the time of writing.
BWIN.PARTY (BPTY.L)
2014 X HIGH 129 x LOW 110
Despite activist investor activity,
bwin.party showed signs of a recovery in
its Q1s as all verticals posted sequential
growth. Its stock price has steadied at
around 125p after a turbulent start to 2013.
LADBROKES (LAD.L)
2014 X HIGH 179 x LOW 129
Ladbrokes’ share price hovered just
below 150p in early May after a mixed few
weeks which saw another sizeable drop
in digital revenue and the completion of
the migration to Playtech’s single wallet
solution. Analysts have backed an uplift.
WILLIAM HILL (WMH.L)
2014 X HIGH 410 x LOW 320
An unfavourable set of sporting results
contributed to a 6% fall in Q1 online
profits. Its share price hit a 2014 low of
320p in mid-April – compared to almost
500p in August 2013 – before recovering
to around 350p.
UNIBET (UNIB-SDB.ST)
2014 X HIGH 361 x LOW 303
The Swedish operator’s share price
continued its impressive trajectory, reaching
SEK361 at the time of writing, having been
at SEK219 this time last year. GGR and
profits reached an all-time high in Q1 with
sportsbook the main driver. Investment
in marketing means strong share price
performance looks set to continue.
W W W. E G R M A G A Z I N E . C O M