April 1, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — This week, gaming company 888 posted a 6 percent rise in its annual profits report, for a total annual revenue of $48.6 million (£34.3m), according to online newspaper Scotsman.com. This revenue increase comes despite a reported difficult final quarter and a particularly rough December.
Writing in the Scotsman.com yesterday, Victoria Thomson reports that the fourth quarter was particularly hard on 888’s poker divisions, which were down by 4 percent over the year.
"While casino trading remained ‘challenging’ in the current year,” writes Thomson, “daily average revenue was higher by 5 per cent than in December and poker play had grown quarter on quarter.” She goes on to explain that, although its online poker division was faltering, 888’s rate of new customer acquisition beat expectations, giving the company a “healthy pipeline of business for the year ahead”.
A revenue increase for this online gaming giant is good news, especially since one can deduce that the ups and downs of an industry-leading company of this size and stature might fairly reflect worldwide trends in online gaming. So, although the company was hit hard last autumn by the burgeoning economic downturn, the fact that it’s already showing signs of recovery is welcome news indeed.
"While remaining cautious in our outlook, we are confident that the strength of the business will ensure we weather this turbulent period well,” Gigi Levy, chief executive of 888, was quoted in the article. “Just as we managed to grow market share after the industry was hit by the closure of the US market, we are confident we will outperform the market in these challenging times."
Click here to read the original article at Scotsman.com.