Revenues at online gaming firm rise

DUBLIN-BASED online gaming company, Cryptologic has reported revenues of $6m (€4.22m) for the first quarter of this year — 9% up on the final three months of 2010.

The former Canadian-based company, which is one of the five largest software service providers for branded online betting games, reported total losses of just over $600,000 for the quarter — down from $900,000 in the previous quarter and reduced from $3.62m for the corresponding period last year.

On a year-on-year basis, however, first-quarter revenues fell by $1.6m.

The firm said its first-quarter loss per share fell from 26c to 5c, on a year-on-year basis, and that revenue from branded games rose from $1.4m to $1.5m on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

“The return to revenue growth in the first quarter is encouraging and the board continues to focus on driving revenues further while managing costs tightly to enhance shareholder value,” the company said yesterday.

It added that its increase in revenue and improvement in operational performance followed “a major restructuring” by management last year to stabilise the business.

A strategic review of the company, being undertaken by Deloitte, is ongoing.

In total, nine new branded games powered by the company went live during the first quarter of 2011, taking the total number of games rolled out by licensees to date to 179. Cryptologic had cash reserves of $14.5m as of the end of March — up from $10.6m at the end of last year — and continues to be debt free.

The company said it will pursue litigation “in order to protect its rights”, over an ongoing dispute between itself and an unnamed brand licence holder, over an alleged breach of agreement.