Codere numbers rise as new CFO joins
Spanish operator sees overall revenues rise by 29% but net profits slide down 24.7m due to Mexico restructure - Ricardo Moreno becomes new CFO replacing Angel Corzo who becomes deputy CEO.
Spanish operator Codere has seen revenues rise by almost a third in the first half of this year due largely to its increased stake in Mexican gaming machine, bingo hall and betting operator ICELA, however its online operations remain a minor part of its overall numbers.
Overall revenues increased 187.5m, or 29.7%, to 819.7m compared to the same period last year with first half EBITDA 155.5m, an increase of 15.3% compared to 134.9m in 2011.
These results reflect strong growth in Mexico and Argentina, the company said, partially mitigated by weakness in Spain and Panama, however net profits were down 24.7m due, largely, to the restructure of a number of its assets in Mexico, the company said.
As of June 30 this year Codere owned 56,187 gaming terminals, 184 gaming halls, 926 betting locations, three race tracks as well as online gaming operations in Italy and licences in Spain.
So far only a handful of the Spain’s 26 local egaming licensees have gone live since the market opened on June 1 this year. So far only DOLR (Codere), egaming site Juega and Orenes that has 12 land-based casinos across the country and international brands Sportingbet (poker, casino, sports), bet365 (games), Poker Heaven (poker, games, back office) and Stan James (sports) are known to have gone live from Gtech G2’s 14-strong client list in Europe’s newest regulated market.
Codere’s online offering in Spain has so far been limited to a Madrid licence and it is yet to launch nationwide. The first set of national online figures for July and August are expected to be announced by the regulator in September.
In February this year, Codere launched an injuntion against Sportingbet and its local brand Miapuesta on the basis that by operating before being awarded a licence, the UK company was operating illegally in Spain. As a result both the Miapuesta.com and dot.es sites were shut down before the company paid a 2m bond to have them reactivated pending an appeal. However, an appeal by Codere saw the injunction upheld by the Commercial Court in March, prompting Sportingbet to announce its intention to mount an appeal.
In May eGaming Review reported that Miapuesta could miss out on as much as two weeks worth of revenues from the Spanish market in the aftermath of the original injunction imposed by Madrid’s Commercial Court.
Codere and rival Spanish operators Cirsa, Grupo Acrismatic and Top Rank Egasa Spain are the founding members of Empresarios de Juego Online Asociados (EJOA), a new operator group focusing on the country’s online gambling market.
EJOA is distinct from existing body JDigital which was set up in February this year to replace former operator association AEDAPI. JDigital has a membership largely comprised of operators and service providers whose primary focus is online, as the egaming subsidiary of Spanish ecommerce body La Asociación Española de la EconomÃa Digital (adigital). Its members include Betfair, Gtech and PokerStars, and it is headed up by Betfair Iberia general manager Sacha Michaud.
Codere operates a joint venture bingo offering with local partner Snai in Italy, however it has yet to dedicate significant resources to the business there and has so far limited marketing to cross selling from its offline bingo halls. It is understood to have integrated casino into its online offering however a source close to the matter told eGR it has no immediate plans to invest any further resources for the time being.
“Their online strategy is simply exploratory,” he said, “learn and see how the business develops”.
Its turnover in Italy for the first half of this year rose 40.6% to 128.2m due largely to its video lottery terminals (VLTs) business and its integration of a number of gaming machine operators it acquired including Gap Games, Gaming Re and Dalla Pria Services. Growth, however declined sharply due to a rise in gaming taxes there in turn seeing its EBITDA number fall by 0.6% compared to 2011 totalling 18m.
In Spain, the economic downturn, a nationwide smoking ban and a reduction in the number of its gaming machines saw revenues fall 9.7% in the first half of this year.
The company today also appointed Ricardo Moreno Warleta as its new chief financial officer replacing Angel Corzo who was in the role in an interim basis and who will now become deputy CEO to chief executive Jose Antonio Martinez Sampedro. Angel will be responsible for the strategy and management of all the group’s gaming divisions.