Worldspreads to drop Sport Betting Division
March 31, 2009admin No Comments »Dublin-listed financial spread-betting firm Worldspreads says it has decided to exit its small sports spread betting division after a difficult year for the unit.
The company says this will result in a once-off write down in the carrying value of the sports division of about €1.5m. Worldspreads says it is currently reviewing a number of options in relation to the division and will make an announcement ‘very soon’.
In a trading update this morning, the company said that its core financial spread betting business has continued to trade strongly during the second half of its financial year.
It said that excluding the results of its sports division, it expects to announce group profit before tax for the year to March 2009 in line with market expectations. However, it added that the depreciation in the value of sterling against the euro during the year has reduced its UK-based revenues, which make up about 40% of its overall revenues.
Worldspreads said it has continued its expansion plans with new partnerships signed in Poland, Russia, the Dominican Republic and the Czech Republic during the last six months. It says these new ventures are expected to have a positive impact on its results in the next financial year.
In October, WorldSpreads reported a 137 percent rise in pre-tax profits to €3.1 million for the six-month period up to the end of September. It revealed that revenues were 69 percent higher at €8.43 million with operating costs up 50 percent year-on-year over the period to €4.49 million due to investment in marketing and IT development.
In addition, it reported that average daily bets increased 104 percent to 4,793 while the number of active financial clients rose by 45 percent to 2,525.
Thoughts: Seems fairly sensible for WorldSpreads to focus on its core financial spread betting offering.
Tags: financial spread betting, spread betting, worldspreads
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