Empire Online to post profits less than 10%

Empire Online to post profits less than 10%

	Published : Wed, 19 Oct 2005 06:05 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

Online gambling group Empire Online Ltd issued a profit warning today after its players were barred from gambling at the same tables where clients of poker giant PartyGaming were also playing.

Earlier this month, PartyGaming decided to shift all of its PartyPoker.com's players across to a new operating platform. This move is an attempt by PartyGaming to cut the amount of 'rake' it passes on to Empire and other so-called 'skins' for bringing players to its site. It hopes players will sign up directly with PartyPoker without having to wait for them to come through other sites like Empire.

Empire said this decision would mainly impact the value of its existing customer base. Following this, it would not generate as much 'rake' as it did before the separation, it said.

The company’s statement said that: "The impact on Empire Online [of PartyGaming's move] is on the value of the existing customer database of EmpirePoker.com and not on the value and number of new sign-ups across the Empire Online network. The company will take all measures to protect its revenues and continue the strong growth in new player sign-ups reported in the Q3 trading update".

Empire Online estimated its profits for the next 12 months to be lower than 10%. On Tuesday, by 9.25 am, shares in Empire Online fell by 4-1/2 pence to 93-1/2 pence as investors adjusted their expectations. The expected forecast before today's news was 34.2 million pounds pretax profits.

Empire Online is expecting that across its existing trading platforms, such as Noble Poker and Club Dice it will be able to post a substantial profit growth in 2006.

Chief executive of Empire Online, Noam Lamir sounded confident when he said: “The trend rate of growth at Empire Online remains strong and we will continue to grow ahead of the industry."