Online betting is a winner for Playtech
The shift to online betting has been good news for Playtech, the provider of gambling software to turf accountants William Hill and Paddy Power and poker giant PartyGaming.
Playtech today posted a 54% leap in pre-tax profits for 2008 and declared itself "highly confident" of its prospects for 2009 and beyond.
The company devises gambling websites with games ranging from poker to roulette and mahjong.
Playtech has worked hard at diversifying geographically and has made significant gains in Asia Pacific and European markets. So much of its revenue is from the Continent that it today changed its reporting currency to euros for the first time.
Pre-tax profits for the year to 31 December at the AIM-listed firm came in at 41.5 million euros (£39.1 million) against 26.8 million euros a year ago. Revenues leaped 70% to 111.5 million euros.
The dividend is 15.2 cents a share against 10.2 cents last year.
"Despite the difficult macro-economic outlook for 2009 I am confident that the group will successfully navigate these challenges," said chairman Roger Withers.
