PartyGaming CEO Richard Segal quits

PartyGaming CEO Richard Segal quits

	Published : Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:25 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

LONDON: PartyGaming Plc., the world's No 1 online gaming company, said Tuesday its chief executive Richard Segal is quitting, even as the company delivered earnings and revenue that beat forecasts.

PartyGaming's board has decided that in view of the company's rapid growth, the CEO and other executive directors need to be relocated in Gibraltar, where the company is based. Segal has declined the board's request to move there because he could not snap his strong family ties in London, where his wife and two children live.

Segal said it has been a very difficult decision. "What we've achieved in a year most businesses don't deliver in a decade. But my family comes first," he told correspondents.

Segal has been in his current post since August 2004. He is expected to leave by 1 June. The company has not identified a successor for him.

PartyGaming's revenues went up 63 per cent to $978 million in 2005, compared to $602 million in 2004, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, goodwill amortisation and other one-off costs increased to $583 million from $391 million.

Its latest daily poker revenue averaged $3 million, an increase of 9 per cent on the final quarter of 2005, while its daily blackjack revenues fell slightly.

The company is planning to reduce its reliance on its U.S. market, because of the illegal nature of online gambling in that country. The company generates bulk of its income from the U.S.,

It is launching two additional new games as well as multi-currency and multi-lingual versions of poker in the coming months. It has already implemented a facility whereby users can play multiple games using the same account and same log-in.

A record number of 92,838 punters signed up in January, which is a 13 per cent increase on the month and 34 per cent on the year.

The company is paying a final dividend of 5.25 cents per share. The company's shares rose 2.3 per cent to 133-1/2 pence, valuing it around 5.4 billion pounds.