Dublin-based financial spread betting group WorldSpreads is to exit the sports spread-betting business after a “difficult trading year”, that resulted in a €1.5 million writedown.
The company also said profit in the year ending today will be in line with analysts’ estimates excluding the results of the sports unit.
It said the depreciation in the value of sterling against euro over the last year had reduced the group’s UK revenues which account for 40 per cent of the total.
In a statement WorldSpreads said its key performance indicators showed encouraging growth levels in all operating regions.
WorldSpreads said it had continued its international expansion strategy with partnerships signed in Poland, Russia, Dominican Republic and the Czech Republic during the past six months.
Last October WorldSpreads reported a 137 per cent rise in pretax profits to €3.1 million for the six month period to the end of September.
Revenues were 69 per cent higher at €8.43 million with operating costs up 50 per cent year-on-year over the period to €4.49 million, due to investment in marketing and IT development.
Average bets per day rose 104 per cent to 4,793, while the number of active financial clients rose by 45 per cent to 2,525. Basic earnings per share were up 700 per cent to €0.064.
At 9.10am shares in WorldSpreads were flat in Dublin at 70 cent.
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