Amaya hits record revenues for 2016

dian gaming and online gambling operator Amaya Inc. has reported a fourth-quarter profit in its full-year 2016 results. The results are a world apart from the previous year’s numbers as the company added more customers and cut costs.

In January, the owner of online gambling sites PokerStars and Full Tilt said in a preliminary results announcement that it expected to post record results for 2016.

Total revenue came in at $1.15bn, an increase of 8% on corresponding FY 2015’s $1.07bn.

Adjusted EBITDA climbed 14% to $524.1m, whilst net earnings from continuing operations improved 777% from a loss of $20m to a positive of $135.6m and adjusted net earnings climbed 26% to $366.7m.

The company’s net income from continuing operations was approximately $45m compared with a loss of $15.2m the year prior.

Amaya’s revenue rose by nearly 6% to $310.4m in the quarter ended 31 December 2016.

Rafi Ashkenazi, Amaya Chief Executive comments: “Our proactive changes to the poker ecosystem and customer acquisition initiatives continue to reverse certain negative trends and we are starting to see organic growth in that business, our casino offering exceeded expectations as we introduced limited marketing campaigns and focused on our cross-sell efforts, and we continued to build and develop our sportsbook.

“The strong performance of our business has helped us to reduce our currency risk, lower our interest expense and accelerate the payment of the remaining amounts owed on our deferred payment obligation, all of which will allow us to continue pursuing our four strategic priorities. We expect to continue our 2016 momentum and execute on our strategy in 2017.”

In line with the positive results, Amaya has set a revenue guidance of between $1.2bn and $1.26bn for 2017, with adjusted EBITDA expected to come in at between $560m and $580m.