Amaya forecasts record revenue haul in 2016

Amaya has said that it expects to post record revenue for the 12 months through to December 31, 2016.

In a trading update, the company said revenue should come in at the high end of a range between $1.15 billion (€1.08 billion) and $1.16 billion, compared to the $1.07 billion posted last year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) looks set to amount to between $521 million and $526 million, which would be an improvement on last year’s total of $459 million.

In addition, adjusted net earnings should fall between $364 million and $374 million, up from $291 million in 2015.

Rafi Ashkenazi, chief executive of Amaya, said: “We anticipate that 2016 will be a record year of revenues for Amaya; we also saw better than expected fourth quarter results from our casino offering, operational excellence program and a successful re-launch in Portugal, all while continuing to take an efficient and measured approach to marketing our product offerings.

“We built positive momentum in 2016 that accelerated throughout the year and which we believe was largely the result of the positive impact of our strategy to improve the poker ecosystem for recreational players and leverage our global competitive advantage in online poker to acquire new customers, cross-sell existing and new customers into our online casino and sportsbook offerings, and maximise the lifetime value of all of our customers.

“We expect to continue this momentum and execute on our strategy in 2017 despite anticipated further headwinds, including continued declines in the value of our customers’ local currencies against the US dollar, which has been significant over the past two years, and the previously announced potential cessation of our real-money online poker offering in Australia.

“We anticipate that certain operational initiatives, including the introduction of a new cross-vertical customer loyalty program, the potential expansion into new markets, our continued focus on achieving product parity in our online casino and sportsbook, and our operational excellence program, will help to both drive our business forward and mitigate these and future headwinds.”

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