LONDON, July 8, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ukbetting plc, the digital wagering operator, today announced the acquisition of SCG Enterprises Ltd., the betting operations of Sports.com Ltd., for a cash consideration of 670,000 pounds. 570,000 pounds of this sum will cover net liabilities, while the remaining 100,000 pounds acquires the entire betting operations, including 24,000 betting customers, and the url www.sports.co.uk. This takes ukbetting's betting customers to over 100,000
SCG Enterprises Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sports.com Limited and the majority of its bets are placed on football and other sports, complementing ukbetting's strong betting brands, ukbetting.com and totalbet.com. According to unaudited management accounts, the results for the six months ended June 30, 2002, SCG Enterprises reported revenues of 8.8 million pounds and loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of 454,000 pounds.
The key benefits of the acquisition are:
-- Increase in betting customers to over 100,000
-- A further step towards achieving critical mass
-- Sports.co.uk's football and sports betting customers help broaden
ukbetting's wagering mix
-- Fast integration due to compatible technology platforms
-- Ability to provide complementary sports betting information from
the group's content sites sportinglife.com and bettingzone.co.uk
Eric Semel, Chief Executive of ukbetting commented: "We are pleased with this acquisition. Sports.co.uk fits neatly with our other digital sports betting operations and consolidates our position as a digital wagering operator. Since our listing in August 2001 we have completed a number of important deals, including the current offer for TEAMtalk."