[Sniper]

And more spin control...

Empire defies fears of internet poker slowdown
By Tom Griggs FT.com, 08:15 BST Oct 10, 2005

The slowdown of growth in internet poker does not appear to have affected Empire Online which said that revenues jumped 71 per cent in the third quarter.

Although investors continued to treat the sector with caution following the warning from PartyGaming over growth prospects and the flat listing by 888.com in Spetember, as Empire shares fell 13.66 per cent in early trading to 158p.

The online poker group said in a trading statement on Monday that the number of real money players increased 62 per cent to 53,148 compared to last year, a jump of 24 per cent compared to the second quarter. Net revenues from gaming leapt from $18.3m in the third quarter last year to $31.4m in the same quarter this year, and 24 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

Empire, which ended talks over a £791m takeover by Sportingbet at the end of September, estimated that operating profits for the quarter would be $16.1m, a rise of 43 per cent compared to $11.3m last year. It said that over 40 per cent of the new real money players had come through its own platforms, Noble Poker and Club Dice, which it acquired over the summer.

"We are delighted in our strong trading and the strategic advances we have made during the third quarter," said Noam Lanir, chief executive. "In a period where there has been much uncertainty over potential growth rates in the online gaming industry as a whole we believe our results demonstrate the strength of our core marketing skills."

Last month, PartyGaming, the world's largest internet gambling group, saw its shares fall by a third when it said that customer growth had slowed while player retention rates and player yields had declined at rates "greater than expected", prompting fears that the online poker fad had come to an end.

However, analysts at Altium Securities, said that Empire's results demonstrated that "the majority of Party Gaming's woes are company specific".

Mr Lanir attributed Empire's success to its diversification strategy of directing new players to its own platforms, such as Noble Poker, and away from so-called "skins" such as EmpirePoker.com which uses PartyGaming technology.

In a separate announcement, PartyGaming said on Monday that it had changed its operating platform and would separate its own players from those from other companies, such as Empire, using skins. The new system will allow its customers to play a range of different games in addition to poker on the same platform, and to make side bets and deals in poker tournaments.

The change was welcomed by Empire which said that its EmpireOnline.com skin would be enhanced by the inclusion of beginners' tables with low buy in costs, as well as tables with bet limits of $100/$200.