888 Confident about 2007 Prospects

2007 July 13, Jonny Vincent

888 Holdings Plc announced this week that the company achieved results "in line with management's expectations" for the first half of 2007, and was "confident about its prospects" for the rest of the year.

The 888 Holdings Regulatory News Announcement was a simple two-paragraph trading update, but will be warmly received by 888 investors. The online gambling company will publish next scheduled interim results on 10th September, 2007.

888 Holdings, parent company of Casino-on-Net and Pacific Poker, has been an acquisition target since it withdrew from the US market last year (along with PartyGaming) following the passing of the UIGEA into law.

The share prices for both PartyGaming and 888 crashed following the decisions to withdraw from the lucrative US market, however 888 fared slightly better than their competitors, as the US market did not comprise as high a portion of their business (over 70% of PartyGaming's customers were Americans, whilst 888 only lost half their players).

Both companies have spent much of 2007 rebuilding, and for a long time, it appears as though Ladbrokes would be stepping in to buy up 888. This merger was torpedoed however, but Ladbrokes deciding the risk of future US DoJ prosecution of 888 for trading in the US pre-UIGEA was not worth the risk. As a result, both PartyGaming and 888 have recently instigated talks with American justice officials to clear the air, and move on. Neither company has given any indication as to the progress of these talks since announcing they had contacted the US officials last month.

888 Holdings (LSE: 888.L) is currently trading at 116p. They traded near the 250p mark mid-way through last year and crashed to below 100p in October when they withdrew from the US market.