Bingostar Failure Impacts Netplay Results

BINGOSTAR FAILURE IMPACTS NETPLAY RESULTS

Source: http://www.azonlinecasinos.com

Losses double as interactive television and internet gambling company describes project as 'costly'.

NetplayTV released its interims this week, reporting a wider six-month pre-tax loss of £ 7.9 million compared with £ 3.2 million last year.

The losses came despite total revenue growth for the six months ending 30 June 2010 improving by 21% to £ 11.31 million from a re-stated £ 9.34 million in the comparable period.

The costly failure of a six month trial of the Bingo Stars show on ITV was a major contributor to the losses, management reported, with chairman Clive Jones observing that the new soft gaming format "did not perform in line with our expectations and has been a major cost to the company."

NetPlay issued a profit warning in June (see previous report) after Bingo Stars failed to deliver anticipated revenues. EBITDA reached £ 740 000 in the first half of 2010, compared £ 120 000 in the same period last year.

CEO Martin Higginson revealed that the company had let go significant numbers of staff following the termination of Bingo Stars, and that some non-core business contracts had been halted.

"The ITV trial comes to an end during November 2010, and our discussions with ITV are ongoing, as is the restructuring of our business," said Higginson.

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