06 July 2007
Further to the announcement on 24 May 2007 Betbrokers plc, (AIM: BETB), the UK’s first retail and wholesale brokerage and clearing house for the sports betting industry, is pleased to announce that it has signed an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Global Sports Edge International, Inc. (“Global” or the “Seller”) to acquire the assets and business operations (the “Business”) of Global, which trades as Winning Edge, for a consideration of US$6.8 million payable in Betbrokers’ shares. The acquisition is subject to US Securities and Exchange Commission approval and the approval of Winning Edge International Inc. (“Winning Edge”) shareholders. Winning Edge is the parent company of Global.
The acquisition will allow Betbrokers to satisfy the growing and largely unmet demand for information on US sports and sports betting to its increasing UK and European customer base. Whereas betting on sports is illegal in the majority of US states, the provision of data and sports betting information, known as handicapping in the US, is legitimate and Winning Edge is a leading player in this growing market. In turn, Winning Edge will significantly benefit from Betbrokers’ offering of European sports information which will satisfy their market needs and enable them to sell this data along side their US information sales.
Under the terms of the Agreement the consideration will be satisfied through the issue of new Betbrokers’ shares (“Consideration Shares”) to the Seller. The value of the Betbrokers’ shares to be issued shall be determined by the average of the closing bid price on the five consecutive trading days prior to the completion of the transaction (“the Closing”). Under the terms of the Agreement the Consideration Shares are subject to a lock-in period whereby US$1.0 million of Consideration Shares will be locked-in for a period of 7 months from Closing, after 7 months these shares may be sold in tranches of up to US$160,000 per month for the following 5 months with US$200,000 being available for sale in the sixth month. The remaining US$5.8 million of Consideration Shares will be locked-in for a period of 12 months from Closing.
For the financial year to 31 July 2006 Winning Edge reported a turnover of US$5.601 million and a loss after tax of US$1.205 million. Approximately US$0.8 million of costs in the financial year ended 31 July 2006 were associated with US regulatory costs associated with Winning Edge’s US public listing. For the six months ended 31 January 2007 Winning Edge reported turnover of US$4.021 million and a loss after tax of US$0.358 million. It is expected that the acquisition of the Business of Winning Edge will make a positive contribution to Betbrokers’ earnings as the business will no longer be subject to the regulatory costs of the US public markets.
Wayne Lochner, Chairman and Chief Executive of Betbrokers, commented: “Acquiring Winning Edge’s business is a win-win for both parties. There is a huge amount of trading on US sports going on outside America and Betbrokers is now well positioned to provide and sell data to this large market which currently struggles to source detailed information on US sports. In addition, we are able to further empower our clients by offering longer trading hours and we are very pleased with the progress of the transaction.
“Aside from being likely to prove earnings enhancing, the transaction advances our overall strategy of developing a global service in which the selling of data is a crucial part and we look forward to integrating this business into Betbrokers’ existing growing operations.”
Closing is expected on or around 23 August 2007 and a further announcement will be made in due course.
For further information, please contact:
Betbrokers plc
Wayne Lochner, Chairman and Chief Executive
Tel: +44 (0) 8448552100
wlochner@betbrokers.com
www.betbrokers.com
Hanson Westhouse Limited
Tim Metcalfe / Matthew Johnson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7601 6100
tim.metcalfe@hansonwesthouse.com
www.hansonwesthouse.com
Media enquiries:
Abchurch Communications
Chris Lane / Franziska Böhnke
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7716
franziska.boehnke@abchurch-group.com
www.abchurch-group.com
About Betbrokers plc
Betbrokers is the UK’s first independent betting brokerage. The Company facilitates transactional business between both retail gamblers and wholesale clients. The Company’s operations were formally launched in 2005.
Betbrokers provides services, from its dedicated dealing room in London’s Canary Wharf, to two groups of participants within the gambling industry:
The Company provides its retail customers with the advantage of best price execution together with the ability to deal 'in size' in a majority of sporting events. Retail customers will soon be able to access advanced data-sales and trading analysis platforms, which feed from aggregated internal price mechanisms.
Betbrokers already has agreements with over 100 bookmakers, providing them with the opportunity to take on additional bets from retail customers. Importantly, the Company also offers bookmakers a facility to effectively manage their risk exposure by hedging positions anomalously using Betbrokers as an intermediary to deal with the other bookmakers.
Betbrokers floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in November 2006. Further information is available on the Company at: www.betbrokers.com
About Winning Edge
Las Vegas-based Winning Edge is America's only publicly traded sports information and tipping service, known as handicapping in the US. Winning Edge specialises in developing and marketing sports handicapping advice and information via television, radio and the Internet. The Company also produces high quality sports, television and radio programming and sells advertising as well as sponsorship and marketing opportunities to its exclusive database of more than one million sports and gaming fans.
