Revenues rise for European operator

The Central European online and land betting group Fortuna Entertainment, which focuses on the gambling markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, reports increased revenues over the year to date – January to September 2010.
Revenues reached Euro 276.1 million, up 11.7 percent, according to preliminary unaudited financial results released this week. In the third quarter 2010, the total amounts staked reached Euro 84.5 million, up by 11.4 percent compared to the same period in 2009.
“Highly positive financial results of Fortuna recorded in the third quarter follow the strong performance of the company from the first half of this year,” said Fortuna Entertainment Group CEO Jiří Bunda.  “Apart from the rapid growth of the on-line betting segment, we have also managed to improve results from the retail betting in all markets which I consider very important.
“[Our performance] also confirms that our chosen sales strategy focusing not only on internet betting but also on our advanced retail network is successful. I am convinced that [the] expansion of our distribution network through partner outlets in cooperation with successful local entities will become the next positive driver for this segment.”
In the first nine months of 2010 Gross Win reached Euro 66.5 million, an increase by 12.4 percent compared with 2009. In the third quarter of 2010 Gross Win reached Euro 21.1 million, up by 17.6 percent.
EBITDA increased in the first nine months of 2010 by 19.0 percent to Euro 17.2 million. Net profit recorded in the first nine months of 2010 reached Euro 11.9 million, 21 percent higher than in the same period last year.
Online gambling played a major role in the company’s success, delivering increasing revenues. Gross Win from on-line betting in the first nine months of 2010 went up to Euro 15.3 million or 51 percent more than in the same period last year, whilst Gross Win from internet betting increased by 53 percent and by 48 percent in the Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively.
Michal Vepřek, CFO of the group, said that since the end of the third quarter, Fortuna has continued to grow dynamically, with total bets received rising. “In October, we collected historically the biggest monthly volume of bets in the amount of approximately Euro 35 million,” he said.
A Fortuna spokesman said that the rapid development of internet betting has been noticeable in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Through subsidiary FortunaWin, which is licensed in Malta, Fortuna introduced internet betting in Hungary in June this year and in the upcoming months it will also closely follow the development of regulatory policies in Poland, where the future of on-line betting is still being decided.
“The Gross Win from on-line betting in the current markets grew during the first nine months of 2010 by more than 50 percent if compared with the same period in 2009,” he pointed out.
Positive results were also achieved through the further development of “Live betting”, which currently represents more than 15 percent of the amounts staked through the internet, the spokesman added.
On October 21, 2010 Fortuna successfully completed the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its shares and set the issue price at Euro 4.3 per share. In the offering a total number of 18.2 million shares were sold, including 2 million of newly issued shares which equals to a total offering volume of Euro 78.26 million. The demand exceeded initial expectations of the company and of its majority shareholder and the issue price was set just under the upper end of the indicated price range.

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