Money transfer specialist Neteller shrugged off the problems afflicting the online casino industry to deliver a 43% increase in first-half profit and forecast more improvement in the second half. Following the arrests of two top online casino executives in the United States, the restless gaming market finally has something positive to deal with, as Neteller is used by millions on online gamblers.
The crackdown on the online gaming industry in the United States affected Neteller as well in the past few weeks. Their share price slid 94 pence to 336 pence last week, but investors will be reassured by the latest performance numbers as the market calms down. Pretax profit was $58 million in the six months to end-June on revenues up by 62% at $119 million. Customer numbers rose from 1.75 million at the end of June last year to 2.91 million with an average daily sign-up of 3,251 compared with 3,609 in the first quarter and 2,898 in the second quarter. Active customers in the second quarter this past year were 535,853 compared with 359,467 in the second quarter of 2005 and 146,015 in the second quarter of 2004.
Neteller has announced plans earlier this year, of launching multi-lingual versions of its service as well as a new payment platform called 1-Pay, in Asia. Neteller says further initiatives are planned for Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Poland, Brazil and Australia in the next six months. |
