Bwin.Party expects conclusion to takeover talks in coming weeks

Online gambling company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, which has been the subject of takeover bids, said on Thursday that its discussions with third parties are now entering a further stage and it expects to reach a conclusion over the coming weeks.

The company, which put itself up for sale last year, is currently mulling over proposals from 888 Holdings and a joint approach from GVC Holdings and Canadian gambling company Amaya.

“The proposals contain a significant element of share consideration and the Board, together with its advisers, is in the process of assessing the comparative merits of these along with other elements of the proposals,” said Bwin. “Whilst there can be no guarantee that these discussions will result in any transaction being completed, the Board expects to reach a conclusion over the coming weeks when a further announcement will be made.”

The company also reported better-than-expected margins for the first quarter, while revenue for the period was up 6% versus the previous quarter but down 6% year-on-year to €155.3m from €165.7m.

"The group has delivered solid growth since the fourth quarter of 2014 on the back of continued mobile expansion,” said chief executive officer Norbert Teufelberger.

"However, a lower than expected gross win margin in sports betting as experienced by other gaming operators and continued challenges in poker held back our year-on-year revenue performance during the first three months of 2015.,” he added.

Teufelberger said that despite slightly lower revenue and additional taxes, continued careful management of costs and further operational efficiencies have meant that group clean earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins for the first quarter are ahead of the board's expectations and also ahead of last year.

Commenting on the results, Peel Hunt said: “A poor revenue quarter as expected but offset by margin.”

“Positive news comes in the form of improved costs which have left Clean EBITDA margins 'ahead of management' expectations,” it added.

At 1330 BST, Bwin shares were up 4% at 107.50p .