Webis reverses losses in full year as profit, turnover rise

Webis Holding, the company behind the WatchandWager brand, has reported growth across various key financials in the 12 months to May 31, 2017.

Turnover in the full year amounted to $371.9m (€316.7m), which represents an increase of 65% on the $224.3m posted in the previous year.

Gross profit rose 30.6% year-on-year to $5.3m, reversing a decline in the prior year, while operating profit also improved from negative $948,000 to a plus of $51,000.

As a result, profit for the year climbed from a loss of $1.2m to a positive figure of $5,000, thus providing a basic and diluted breakeven per share for continuing operations.

In terms of the WatchandWager business, Webis said that it continues to make “satisfactory progress” in this area, initially only allocating a “relatively modest” marketing budget to new player acquisition.

Expanding on the performance of WatchandWager, Denham Eke, non-executive chairman of Webis, added: “Our core success has been in reactivating our lapsed database, and we have seen good growth from this initiative.

“This growth has been augmented by carefully judged bonusing and promotional offers to our clients, utilising SMS, mail and social media outlets, with a content focus on daily cash back and bonuses to clients, hence our slogan ‘Get Paid to Play’, where we believe we have a competitive advantage.

“We continue to make big improvements in payment processing, with improved acceptance rates from our USA suppliers across most methods, and now have a range of payment options, which are at least on a par, if not superior to our competitors.

“All our providers are based in North America and this has assisted successful acceptance rates with US banks.”

Reflecting on the business as a whole, Eke also said: “In summary, the board are encouraged by the increase in activity, turnover and most importantly a reversal of previous losses into a profit, albeit small.

“We believe the company has turned a corner in relation to performance, although are mindful of some of the challenges that may lie ahead.

“Most importantly the board believe the strategies for growth are the correct ones, and are regulatory compliant, which is critical in this sector.”

Related article: Webis boosted by WatchandWager in first half