A look at NetPlay TV 2014 interim results

NetPlayTV, the company behind SuperCasino and Jackpot247 released their 2014 first half (6 months to June 30) results today.

First a look at the headline results, then a couple of interesting comments in the operational review.

The financials

• Net revenue: £14.5 million, up on 2013 first half figure of £14.2 million
• EBITDA: £2.2 million, down on 2013 first half figure of £2.7 million
• Profit before tax: £1.2 million, down on first half of figure £2.4 million

Key performance indicators

• 24% increase in new depositing players to 40,585 (first half 2013: 32,618)
• 29% increase in active depositing players to 62,356 (H1 2013: 48,218)
• Mobile and tablet now accounting for 36% of total net revenue and 39% of new

The report lists the KPI’s above the financials. Probably understandable given this is where the better news can be found.

More players are playing at SuperCasino and Jackpot247, this just isn’t translating into a better bottom line. The reason for both greater player numbers and lower profit, was a significant increase in marketing expenditure for the period, up £421,000 (6%) on the same period last year. Which leads us to some interesting comments in the review about the review about the the general operating environment in the UK leading up to the introduction of the new point of consumption tax.

Unsustainable marketing spend

“As a result of the expected incoming point of consumption (‘POC’) tax, the Company believes there has been an unsustainable level of competitor marketing and bonus offers which in turn has had the effect of lowering ARPU in the period.”

and…

“The Company expects marketing levels to normalise and even fall once POC is in place at the end of H2.”

This isn’t the first prediction of a significant drop in UK marketing spend by online gambling operators post POC. The Financial Times earlier in the year suggested the EPL could lose a few of its Asian betting sponsors one the the POC is implemented (and enforced).