Betsson to pay bumper dividend; 2009 KPIs
Betsson is to issue a bumper dividend of SEK9 a share, up 76% on last year's SEK5, as the Swedish operator unveiled full-year 2009 key performance indicators showing operating income up 15%, and revenue up by a quarter, despite further pain in poker...
BETSSON is to issue a bumper dividend of SEK9 (0.91, $1.23) a share, up 76% on last year’s SEK5, as the Swedish operator unveiled full-year 2009 key performance indicators (KPIs) showing operating income up 15%, and revenue up by a quarter.
In a briefing in wihch chief executive Pontus Lindwall also admitted to being harried by competitors on poker, Lindwall revealed that operating income rose to SEK316.9m (31m, £43.5m) from SEK276.6m in 2008, while revenue grew 25% to SEK1299m (2008: SEK1037m).
Lindwall said that the figures “prove that this industry is resilient to the economic downturn, and that [one[ can conclude that this kind of company has a very strong position, even in a bad financial climate.”
Income before tax increased by 14% to SEK318.9m (2008: 280.7m), and gross profit increased in all verticals except poker, with sportsbook gross profit up by 33%, casino by 28% and other products by 28%.
“Poker has been not as successful for the last two years,” Lindwall said. “We have been losing market share because although we still believe that we have a great product, on the other hand there have been changes in other networks that have changed the price scene and we have had some problems being able to compete with that.”
Lindwall pledged that “we will change that in future” but said that he “can’t comment” on whether Betsson expects growth in poker in 2010.
Betsson is “especially proud of the sportsbook part of profit because this reflects a strategic decision we have made in the past few years,” he added, and said the company was proud to have won the EGR Socially Responsible Operator of the Year Award 2009.
See last week’s blog from Redeye’s David Mylinski for a view on egaming investment opportunities in Sweden.
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