888 Hldgs Regulatory News (888)

24 April 2012                                                                

888 Holdings Public Limited Company

("888" or "the Group")

Interim Management Statement
Q1 2012 Key Performance Indicators and Trading Update*

888, one of the world's most popular online gaming entertainment and solutions providers, is pleased to provide the following trading update for the first quarter of 2012.

Highlights

·      Group revenue US$94** million (Q1 2011: US$75 million), an increase of 25% year-on-year and a 4% increase compared to the strong Q4 2011

·      Revenue B2C US$83 million (Q1 2011: US$64 million), an increase of 29% year-on-year and a 5% increase compared to Q4 2011, driven by Casino and Poker

·      Number of active customers B2C Casino and Poker at 566,000, an 87% increase compared to Q1 2011, driven by successful new customer recruitment and marketing initiatives

* All percentages in this release are calculated without rounding.

** As of 1^st January 2012, as part of the Group's effort to match the poker network's player environment to the requirements of target customers, the Group took over certain poker B2B brands, the performance of which was previously reported as part of B2B and is now reported as part of B2C. The relevant pro-forma figures are set out in the appendix.  

Key Performance Indicators

Group

·      Revenue B2C US$83 million (Q1 2011: US$64 million), an increase of 29% year-on-year and a 5% increase compared to Q4 2011, driven by Casino and Poker

·      As at 31 March 2012, 888 had 11.3 million Casino, Poker and Sport real money registered customer accounts, representing an increase of 23% since 31 March 2011

B2C

·      Revenue B2C at US$83 million (Q1 2011: US$64 million), an increase of 29% year-on-year and an increase of 5% compared to Q4 2011

·      Revenue B2C Casino at US$42 million (Q1 2011: US$33 million), an increase of 26% year-on-year and an increase of 2% above Q4 2011

·      Revenue B2C Poker at US$21 million (Q1 2011: US$11 million), an increase of 88% year-on-year and an increase of 14% compared to Q4 2011

·      Revenue B2C Bingo at US$14 million (Q1 2011: US$14 million), a decrease of 5% year-on-year and an increase of 4% compared to Q4 2011

·      Revenue B2C Emerging Offering at US$6 million (Q1 2011: US$5 million), an increase of 14% year-on-year and an increase of 4% compared to Q4 2011

·      Number of active customers B2C Casino and Poker at 566,000, an increase of 87% compared to Q1 2011

·      Number of active customers B2C Casino at 227,000, an increase of 76% compared to Q1 2011

·      Number of active customers B2C Poker at 405,000, an increase of 83% compared to Q1 2011

·      Quarterly revenue B2C per active Casino and Poker customer was US$112, a 24% decrease compared to Q1 2011

·      Quarterly revenue B2C per active Casino customer was US$185, a 28% decrease compared to Q1 2011

·      Quarterly revenue B2C per active Poker customer was US$52, a 3% increase compared to Q1 2011

B2B

·      Revenue  B2B at US$11 million (Q1 2011: US$11 million), an increase of 3% year-on-year and a decrease of 6% compared to Q1 2011

Current Trading

Trading during the first three weeks of the second quarter continued to be strong, with average daily revenue 1% higher than Q1 2012, and 26% higher than Q1 2011. Although we expect to see a return to the historic seasonal pattern as we move through the quarter, given the strength of the business and our continued strategic focus we are confident of further progress during the year.

As at 13 April 2012 the Group had US$72 million of cash and cash equivalents, of which US$46 million represent liabilities to customers.

Commenting on today's announcement Brian Mattingley, CEO of 888, said:

"Our focused strategy has led to another excellent quarter, with ongoing strength in Poker driving March to the highest ever monthly revenues in the history of 888. Poker has continued its robust performance in the early stages of Q2, with our other product areas seeing an expected return to seasonal patterns.

As stated at our full year results, there are significant growth opportunities offered by the liberalisation of new markets, which will take investment to realise. We will continue to invest throughout 2012 in order to build market share."

Analyst and Investor Conference Call

There will be an analyst and investor conference call at 10:30am (BST) today.

-ends-

Contacts and enquiries

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty since they relate to future events and circumstances. Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results. Any forward-looking statements in this announcement reflect 888's view with respect to future events as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by law or by the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority, 888 undertakes no obligation publicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this announcement that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement.

Appendix

*Rounded. As of 1^st January 2012, as part of the Group's effort to match the poker network's player environment to the requirements of target customers, the Group took over certain poker B2B brands, the performance of which was previously reported as part of B2B and is now reported as part of B2C.The pro-forma figures for Q1 2012 are as follows: Q1 2012 B2C Poker revenue US$19 million, an increase of 71% compared to Q1 2011 and 4% increase compared to Q4 2011, Q1 2012 B2C revenue US$81 million, an increase of 26% compared to Q1 2011 and 3% increase compared to Q4 2011, Q1 2012 B2B revenue US$12 million, an increase of 9% compared to Q1 2011 and flat on Q4 2011 and Q1 2012 group revenue US$93 million, an increase of 24% compared to Q1 2011 and 2% increase compared to Q4 2011.