Bwin.party, the online gaming company formed through the merger of bwin and Partygaming, has reported year-on-year revenue growth of 3% on the third quarter compared to the same period of 2010.
Third quarter pro-forma revenue of €201.1m was up from €194.7m in the third quarter of last year, ahead of the €194m Panmure Gordon had been predicting, and up 9% on the second quarter.
The firm which has operations in the UK, France and Italy has also seen a rise in how much it gets from each active player, up from €8.9 per day in 2010 to €9.6 this year.
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Poker and casino revenues have benefited from the closure of US rival Full Tilt Poker by the US authorities in the second quarter of 2011, while the sports betting side of the business - not normally regarded as a strong point of the company - saw net gaming revenue rise 11% from the previous quarter to €60.2m.
The group said it is on course to achieve merger synergies of €40m next year and €65m in 2013.
There were 430,400 new sign-ups during the quarter which was down on the prior year but 6% up on the previous quarter's sign-up figure of 405,700, reflecting the launch of new products in Italy. The number of daily average players was down 1% versus the previous quarter and down 4% year-on-year driven by the competitive challenges in poker that had affected previous quarters, while the absence of the FIFA World Cup this year also played its part.
Bwin.party does not provide profit or margin figures in its quarterly reports but the most important issues facing the business are entries into new markets. On this issue the joint Chief Executives Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger said:
"... we are on-track to launch new regional labels in both Spain and Denmark on 1 January 2012. In Germany ... we remain optimistic that changes can and will be made so that the (regulatory) regime becomes fully compliant and will foster a vibrant regulated market."
Germany has traditionally been reluctant to open up to online gaming but obviously offers an enormous market. A successful launch there combined to new services in the US are both highlighted by the company's board as priorities although whether they will come to fruition is an open question.
Shares in the firm were up just half a percent in early trading.
BS
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