Bwin publishes final pre-merger results

The merger between Bwin and Party is set to be completed on 31 March, and preparations for its completion contributed to expected declines in EBITDA and EBIT, down 39% and 87.3% respectively in Q4 compared to the corresponding quarter in 2009.

James Hollins, analyst with Evolution Securities, explained Bwin’s EBITDA came in 3% ahead of his €70.2m estimate and down 30% year-on-year “due to aggressive marketing and heavy investment in its technology platform ahead of the merger and European regulation.”

The company’s quarterly result after tax was also down, falling 73% (compared to Q4 2009) to € 5.2 million (US$ 7.4 million).

Bwin remains among the leading poker operators in France and Italy, claiming a 22.4% market share in the latter when discounting Microgame’s totem element and a continued growth in gross gaming revenues for poker helping Bwin maintain its position as “one of the leading online poker providers in France.”

Overall, newly regulated markets were deemed responsible for a 6.3% quarterly growth in gross gaming revenue compared to Q3 2010, but the company has admitted that the dot.com market “is still dominated by poker providers offering real money gaming to US customers, giving them significant advantages of size and player liquidity.”

Elsewhere, even before the launch of Bwin’s first real-money iPhone poker app in January, mobile growth was substantial: a 66% year-on-year growth saw Q4 gross gaming revenue for mobile climb to € 3.6 million (US$ 5 million), with the number of active customers doubling.

The number of active customers across all of Bwin’s business remained largely unaffected by the impending merger – the total number dropped 2.5% but the number of new customers rose 2.4%, and gross gaming revenues per active customer rose 1%.

As the merger draws ever closer, Bwin has been cutting its expenses (down 15% so far in Q1 2011) while its gross daily gaming revenues since January 1 are up 10.5% on the previous quarter.