No end to Playtech rally

Playtech said last month that both full-year revenue and adjusted cash profit would be comfortably in line with market consensus. They were. And the internet gambling technology firm has made a "strong start" to 2015, too.

Strip out the €340 million made on the sale of its WHO stake in 2013, and Playtech made a profit of more than €207 million last year, up 30% to a new record. Revenue rose nearly a quarter to €457 million versus consensus estimates of €447 million. Even after excluding acquisitions made in the past two years, revenue jumped by 21% and profit by 27%.

In the first eight weeks of 2015, daily average revenue is up over 22% on the first quarter of 2014, and 5% better than the final three months of last year, helped to some degree by the weak euro.

Playtech's casino business remains by far the biggest revenue generator. Crucially, it's among the fastest growing businesses, too - up 29% to €244 million. A full year of revenue from the migration of Ladbrokes onto the firm's platform was behind a 54% surge in sales at the sports division to €26.3 million.

Elsewhere, the acquisition of PokerStrategy and Eurolive made up a large slice of the 20% jump in services revenue to €133 million. Without them, sales rose 8%. Playtech's land-based business - things like casinos, bingo and betting shops, and gaming machines - did well, too, 35% to €16.6 million, also driven by acquisitions.

"As we add more content and extend into different channels like mobile and add content and sports, I definitely think you should expect same trends to continue," chief executive Mor Weizer told Interactive Investor.

And with €692 million of cash in the bank, worth 175p per Playtech share, expect more acquisitions this year, says Weizer.

A final dividend of 17.5 euro cents takes the total for the year to 26.4 cents.

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