Playtech interim profit jumps 19%

27th Aug 2015 07:33

(ShareCast News) - Playtech posted a 19% rise in adjusted first-half net profit as revenues increased amid growth across its businesses.For the six months ended 30 June, adjusted net profit came in at €115m from €96.8m in the first half of last year, on revenue of €286m, up 33% from €214.4m.The gaming and trading software group, which is buying contracts-for-difference trading platform Plus500 and Ava Trade, lifted its interim dividend by 8% to 9.6cents.It said it saw strong, broad-based growth across regions and products from both new and existing business and its strategy of focusing on regulated and soon-to-be regulated markets continues to drive growth.Chairman Alan Jackson said: "We have completed a series of strategic acquisitions to create and enhance our new Financials division, a high-growth and regulated industry, and our continued operational delivery across all business segments has translated into a strong financial performance across all key metrics, with revenues up by a third in the half year."Our Gaming business continues to go from strength to strength with our strategy of focussing on regulated markets driving growth. Our pipeline remains strong, with significant opportunities across all geographies, as customers seek to benefit from our market-leading omni-channel offering and our best-of-breed products in each and every product category."Shore Capital said: "Overall, this is a solid update with the revenue performance strong and commentary around the Financials division encouraging. We have a 'buy' stance on the stock with fair value approaching £10 per share valuing the Gaming division of long-term revenue annual growth of 8-10% and Financials at cost." In a separate statement, Playtech announced the appointment of Paul Hewitt as a non-executive director of the company with immediate effect. Hewitt's recent executive responsibilities have included being the deputy group chief executive and chief financial officer of the Co-operative Group from 2003 to 2007 and finance and IT director of the RAC from 1999 to 2003.