GVC shares jump after final quarter bonanza and debt savings
Shares in online gambling firm GVC leapt nearly six per cent today after the firm revealed a jackpot fourth quarter that beat market expectations.
Net gaming revenue (NGR), gross bets less associated payouts, jumped by nine per cent to €231m (£199m) in the final three months of the year.
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Mirroring the final quarters of competitors Ladbrokes Coral and William Hill, the owner of brands such as Sportingbet and Party Poker said performance could have been better after it was hampered by a number of unfavourable sporting results.
Chief executive Kenneth Alexander said: "2016 was a landmark year for GVC in which the Group undertook its largest and most ambitious acquisition to date, that of bwin.party. Through the tremendous hard work of our people, we achieved and exceeded many of our goal."
Read more: Party Poker owner posts record results as Bwin integration steams ahead
Annual NGR is expected to be €894m, also up by nine per cent compared with the previous year.
The FTSE 250 firm said the debt restructuring it completed at the end of last year would net the firm around €40m of interest savings.
Cerberus
In August GVC said it had agreed terms with Nomura to put €250m of banking facilities in place. It used this money together with its own cash to pay down €386.5m of funding provided by distressed debt investor Cerberus.
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"Strong trading in Q4 FY16 has continued, and the company now expects pro forma NGR for FY16 to be slightly ahead of previous guidance, and earnings at the top end of the consensus range," said Alistair Ross an analyst at Investec.
Furthermore, the company has had an impressive start to the year, with NGR +21 per cent year-on-year in January. said Alistair Ross an analyst at Investec.