PokerStars’ parent organization, Amaya, encountered financial volatility throughout 2015. Although they declared a net deficit of CA$25.9 million, a sharp difference from the prior year’s earnings of CA$125.2 million, their modified net earnings actually witnessed an 18% surge, hitting CA$372.2 million.
This disparity underscores the influence of elements such as interest outlays, monetary variations, and expenditures tied to mergers. Despite hurdles, notably with currency rates and introducing new offerings, Amaya’s income expanded by 8% to CA$1.37 billion. Even more noteworthy, their adjusted EBITDA, a crucial profitability metric, climbed by 11% to CA$586.9 million.
Amaya stressed that, excluding the adverse effects of currency exchange, their total income would have displayed even more robust expansion. They successfully and substantially lowered their long-term liabilities, decreasing interest rates concurrently.
The final quarter of 2015 reflected the broader pattern: a net deficit on paper but considerable gains in modified net earnings, income, and adjusted EBITDA. In summary, 2015 was a year of managing obstacles and leveraging prospects for Amaya.
Amaya disclosed that, excluding currency variations, their earnings for the period would have risen by 12%, with a 13% surge in real-cash online earnings.
It’s noteworthy that real-cash online poker, once their primary source of income, constituted approximately 78% of their overall revenue this quarter. This marks a substantial decline from the corresponding period in 2014 when it represented a massive 93%.
Concurrently, real-cash casino and sports betting offerings are beginning to compensate, contributing a collective 17% of revenue. For context, this segment was a mere 3% in the parallel period last year.
The residual revenue originated from their other endeavors, encompassing areas like social gaming, those free-to-play games, their live poker competitions, branded poker platforms, and their daily fantasy sports product.
David Baazov, Amaya’s Chairman and CEO, proudly proclaimed, “Throughout 2015, we effectively implemented our strategy to broaden our business while upholding our dominant position in the poker market.”
He continued, “Despite considerable foreign exchange and product launch obstacles, we achieved positive constant currency expansion and, through investments and initiatives that will persist in 2016, have established the groundwork to become a frontrunner in multiple sectors of the gaming industry.”
Looking forward, Amaya forecasts their unaudited consolidated revenue for the initial two months of 2016 to be approximately $189 million, signifying a year-on-year increase of roughly 4%.
Nevertheless, if you exclude the influence of year-over-year shifts in foreign exchange rates, they approximate the figure to be closer to $208 million, a much healthier growth rate of around 14%.
Of this projected revenue, about 75% is anticipated to stem from real-cash online poker, while the combined revenue from real-cash online casino and sports betting is estimated to be around 21%.
admin