BwinParty finally reports operating profit for H1

ator BwinParty has reported operating profit and profit after tax for the first six months of the year for the first time since its creation in 2011.

The operator managed to turn an operating loss of €100.4m for the six months ended 30 June 2014 into an operating profit of €5.3m for the corresponding period this year.

Profit after tax was €2.9m, in comparison with a loss after tax of €94m.

BwinParty formed after the completion of a merger between operators Bwin and Party Gaming in 2011.

Total revenue for the period was €296.5m, down 6% year-on-year, while net revenue was €263.8m, down 11%.

Clean EBITDA went up 2% to €47.3m, and BwinParty said the increase would have been 24% when excluding the impact of EU VAT and the UK point of consumption tax.

It was announced in July that the boards of BwinParty and 888 Holdings have reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended offer that will see 888 acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of BwinParty, with the offer representing a value of approximately £898.3m.

Online gaming group GVC Holdings announced earlier this month it had increased its proposal to acquire BwinParty to 125.5p a share after securing extra funding.

BwinParty announced on Thursday it has “asked GVC to clarify, with respect to its proposal, the best terms on which GVC is prepared to make a formal offer”.

BwinParty said today (Friday): “Whilst discussions with GVC are continuing, there has been no change to the board’s recommendation for 888’s offer and the associated shareholder documents are expected to be sent to shareholders shortly.”

888 executive chairman Brian Mattingley said at a conference call today: “We continue to believe that our offer for BwinParty is of significantly greater intrinsic value than that proposed and outlined by GVC.”