- Turnover increased by 50% to a record £497.0m (2003 restated: £330.4m), due
to significant growth in Betting products, particularly on-line casino and poker.
- Operating profit before goodwill and exceptional restructuring costs was £16.7m
(2003: £19.9m); after adjusting for the £3.2m one-off cost of a Football Pools
marketing campaign, profit at this level was £19.9m, in line with last year.
Operating profit was £6.3m (2003: £9.5m).
- Profit before tax, goodwill and exceptionals was £9.6m (2003: £13.3m). Loss before
tax was £0.8m (2003: £3.5m profit).
- Net debt reduced by £1.9m to £112.8m.
- Earnings per share before amortisation of goodwill of 1.00p (2003: 1.49p). Basic EPS
was a loss of 0.56p (2003: loss of 0.04p).
- Major business review completed in March 2005, which has refocused Group strategy
and identified annualised employment cost savings of £2.4m, following one-off
redundancy costs in 2005 of approximately £1.4m.
- Group’s growth strategy clearly focused on new media betting and gaming including
the exclusive interactive gaming deal with ITV:
- Important strategic position established in the new media betting and
gaming market, delivering growth and continuous product development.
- ITV and Sportech fully committed to further developing a joint vision for
the future with current work focusing on several exciting opportunities
including a night-time poker and soft casino games offer.
- Resilient Football Pools business continuing to deliver significant free cash flow.
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