PartyGaming Plc
21 July 2006
21 July 2006
PartyGaming Plc
('PartyGaming' or the 'Company' and,
together with its subsidiaries, the 'Group')
Second Quarter Key Performance Indicators and Trading Update
Highlights
• Group revenue up 49% to $319.3 million (2005: $214.8 million)
• Active player days in poker up 23% to 14.0 million (2005:
11.4 million)
• Real money poker sign-ups of 232,446 (2005: 186,560), of which 46%
were from outside the US (2005: 23%)
• Poker net daily revenue of $2.7 million per day (2005 : $2.1 million)
• Casino net daily revenue of $0.8 million per day (2005 : 0.1 million)
Commenting on today's announcement, Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer, said:
'I am delighted to announce that PartyGaming's performance in the three months
to 30 June 2006 exceeded expectations with both poker and casino delivering
strong performances in the seasonally quieter second quarter. I am particularly
pleased by our continued international expansion with 46% of our new real money
poker sign-ups and 24% of our overall revenue in the quarter coming from outside
the US.
'The development of our fully integrated platform, enabling customers to play a
broad variety of games using a single player account and shared purse, has
continued apace. PartyGammon, our online backgammon game, was launched on
schedule last month, PartyBingo was added this month and other new games will be
added to the platform during the fourth quarter.
'Continuing to drive international expansion remains a clear objective and over
the coming months we aim to pursue the growth of our non-US business
aggressively, particularly in Europe and South America, where we continue to see
a number of attractive opportunities.
The KPIs reported below are consistent with the definitions that were agreed at
the recent meeting of online gaming companies held in Gibraltar and announced on
6 July 2006.
Poker - Key Performance Indicators
Three months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 13,989,980 11,402,342
Daily average players 153,736 125,300
Yield per active player day $17.4 $17.0
Yield per unique active player in the quarter $250.1 $307.2
New real money sign-ups 232,446 186,560
Unique active players during the period 972,228 630,539
Unique active players in June 601,587 417,533
Average daily revenue (excluding skins) 2,672,450 2,128,546
Six months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 27,946,765 22,343,683
Daily average players 154,403 123,446
Yield per active player day $17.9 $17.8
New real money sign-ups 495,700 400,668
Unique active players during the period 1,249,229 842,382
Average daily revenue (excluding skins) 2,770,388 2,194,652
In the quarter ended 30 June 2006, net poker revenue increased by 21% compared
with the previous year to $243.2 million but was down 6% versus the first
quarter, reflecting the seasonal pattern seen in previous years. The Group's
marketing effort, across a number of different channels, has continued to drive
new real money sign-ups for poker which totalled 232,446 in the period (2005:
186,560), equivalent to 2,554 per day, versus 2,925 per day in the previous
quarter. Unique active players also increased strongly, benefiting from the
successful reactivation of a number of inactive players during the quarter as
well as the addition of players from EmpirePoker.com. Active player days were
23% ahead of the previous year and slightly ahead of the previous quarter,
despite the lower frequency of play during the seasonally weaker second quarter.
Our concerted drive into territories outside the US has continued in the second
quarter with over 46% of our new real money sign-ups coming from outside the US
following a particularly strong take-up in Europe. Over 27% of our poker
revenue in the quarter came from outside the US compared with just 15% in the
second quarter of 2005 and 24% in the first quarter of the current year.
Yield per active player day was $17.4 compared with $18.5 in the previous
quarter but was 2% ahead of the same period in 2005, reflecting a reduced amount
of time spent playing online during the second quarter. While higher player
numbers were unable to offset the impact of the lower yield, resulting in a
reduction in average daily revenue (excluding skins) in the quarter to $2.7
million, this was over 25% ahead of that achieved in the second quarter of 2005.
Casino - Key Performance Indicators
Three months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 2,106,868 164,314
Daily average players 23,152 1,806
Yield per active player day $36.1 $79.7
Yield per unique active player in the quarter $222.6 $488.2
New real money sign-ups 12,734 20,185
Unique active players during the period 341,667 26,823
Unique active players in June 172,629 16,358
Average daily revenue 835,897 143,897
Six months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 4,312,922 333,078
Daily average players 23,829 1,840
Yield per active player day $36.9 $76.4
New real money sign-ups 23,758 34,489
Unique active players during the period 521,158 42,661
Average daily revenue 879,640 140,506
Compared with the previous year, casino revenue in aggregate was up by 481% to
$76.1 million reflecting the introduction of blackjack on to PartyPoker.com in
October 2005 and the addition of PartyCasino.com to the integrated platform in
February 2006. The amount gambled in our casino business increased
substantially to $4.13 billion, up from $460 million the previous year.
Compared to the previous quarter, the amount gambled declined from $4.47 billion
to $4.13 billion reflecting a seasonally quieter second quarter and a reduction
in the amount gambled on blackjack.
The yield per active player day fell by 4% to $36.1 from $37.7 in the first
quarter due to seasonality and an increase in bonus rates which averaged 11.9%
of gross casino revenue during the second quarter, versus 9.3% in the first
quarter. The fall in the yield year on year was attributable to the
introduction of blackjack on to PartyPoker.com. PartyCasino.com now has 39
individual games that are live and, despite having had limited marketing support
so far, it is already attracting an average of over 23,000 real money players
per day.
Consolidated Key Performance Indicators
As previously announced, the Group intends to begin to report KPIs on a
consolidated basis to take into account the launch of the integrated platform
and shared purse. Going forward PartyGaming will present all of its KPIs on a
consolidated basis so that real money sign-ups, daily average players, unique
active players, active player days, yield per unique active player and yield per
active player day will be provided on a consolidated basis as well as for poker,
casino and emerging games separately. The consolidated KPIs for the second
quarter 2006 and the comparable period in 2005 are shown below (comparable data
for each quarter since the beginning of 2004 is available at www.partygaming.com
/investor/documentation.html).
Three months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 14,478,235 11,566,656
Daily average players 159,101 127,106
Yield per active player day $22.1 $17.9
Yield per unique active player in the quarter $318.2 $314.6
New real money sign-ups 245,254 206,745
Unique active players during the period 1,003,599 657,362
Unique active players in June 621,805 433,891
Average daily revenue (excluding skins) $3,508,821 $2,272,443
Six months to 30 June 2006 2005
Active player days 28,840,802 22,676,761
Daily average players 159,341 125,286
Yield per active player day $22.9 $18.6
Yield per unique active player in the period $507.8 $477.6
New real money sign-ups 519,532 435,157
Unique active players during the period 1,301,073 885,043
Average daily revenue (excluding skins) $3,650,266 $2,335,158
Unique active players increased by 53% on the comparable quarter in 2005 to over
1 million players, with substantial increases experienced in all geographic
segments. Europe performed particularly strongly with a 237% increase in unique
active players to 171,531.
Active player days in the second quarter increased by 25% versus the same
quarter in 2005 driven by continued growth in the size of the active player
base, partially offset by a small reduction in the average frequency of play.
Yield per active player day in the quarter increased by 23% to $22.1 reflecting
the positive impact from cross-selling higher yielding casino games such as
blackjack to PartyPoker players. As a result, average daily revenue increased
sharply to $3.5m per day, up from $2.3m in 2005.
Current Trading
As we begin the second half, we continue to develop our poker business. The
commencement of the World Series of Poker on 25 June 2006, together with the
launch of a new multi-million dollar tournament called 'Party Poker Monster',
which is expected to have the largest ever prize pool online, should both be
positive for our poker business over the coming months. While bonus rates in
casino are expected to increase from current levels, the marketing launch of
PartyCasino.com should benefit the Group in the second half of the year.
Continuing to drive international expansion remains a clear objective and over
the coming months we aim to pursue the growth of our non-US business
aggressively, particularly in Europe and South America, where we continue to see
a number of attractive opportunities.
New Debt Facility
In order to give the Group additional financial flexibility, the Group has
replaced its existing $200 million credit facility with a $500 million
multi-currency revolving credit facility, with the following banks
participating: Royal Bank of Scotland, Dresdner Kleinwort, Bank of Scotland,
West LB and Commerzbank.
Contacts:
PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100
Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor Relations
John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications
Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113
Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke
Video interview with Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer
Friday 21 July 2006
A video interview with Mitch Garber covering the KPIs and Group strategy is
available from 7.00am today on www.partygaming.com and www.cantos.com.
Conference call
Friday 21 July 2006
For analysts and investors there will be an opportunity to put questions to
Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer and Martin Weigold, Group Finance
Director, by way of a conference call to be held at 9.30am on Friday 21 July,
2006. The details of the call are as follows:
Dial-In No: +44 (0) 1452 562 815 (UK)
+1 866 629 0054 (US)
Password: PartyGaming
UK Replay no: +44 (0) 1452 550 000 (available for 1 week)
Replay passcode: 7555664
US Replay no: +1 866 247 4222 (available for 1 week)
Replay passcode: 7555664
All times are British Summer Time.
Appendix
KPI Definitions
The KPIs reported are consistent with those used previously and with the
definitions that were agreed at the recent meeting of online gaming companies
held in Gibraltar and announced on 7 July 2006.
Active player days
Aggregate number of days in the given period in which active players have
contributed to rake and/or placed a wager. This can be calculated by
multiplying average active players by the number of days in the period
Yield per active player day
Net gaming revenue excluding skins in the period divided by the number of active
player days in that period
Unique active player
A player who has contributed to rake and/or placed a wager in the period.
Yield per unique active player
Net gaming revenue excluding skins (net of customer bonuses and other fair value
adjustments to revenues) divided by the number of unique active players in the
period.
Real money sign-up
A new player who has registered and deposited funds into an account with the
company. Customers are categorised between lines of business according to where
they first register on the gaming site to address the issues posed by shared
purse.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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