Sportech trading update

Sportech PLC delivered a trading update for the period August 21 to November 9, 2015 on the back of the termination of potential acquisition talks with Contagious Gaming Inc. (see previous report).

The company said it is in talks regarding another preliminary proposal for the company’s The Football Pools but did not reveal the name of the interested party.

Overall, the Group “continues to make good progress and trading remains in line with management expectations”, a press statement said.

Sportech will close its German based European Operations centre and integrate remaining activities into their New Jersey data and operations centre following the termination of its “loss making” contract with the German Tote next month.

Internet revenues are up 53 percent on last year but the company said it continues to face competition from larger unlicensed internet operators who accept bets in Connecticut impacting revenues both offline and online.

Sportech’s The Football Pools continues to trade in line with management expectations with revenues remaining broadly in line with the prior year driven by an increase in spend per head, together with improved retention in core player numbers, following the roll out of an improved CRM programme.

New player acquisition was slightly down year on year, 16,000 to date (2014: 20,000) with 9,000 digital (2014: 7,000), due to extensive trials of new digital acquisition channels and a planned reduction in telemarketing activity. However, following these trials, the company said it remains confident it will continue to improve acquisition from current levels, driving stability in the core pools player base.

The Group’s net debt at 31 October 2015 was GBP 60.0 million reduced from GBP 63.3 million at June 30, 2015.