Annual Report and Accounts 2008 (pdf-file) - Unibet
Annual Report and Accounts 2008 (pdf-file) - Unibet
Annual Report and Accounts 2008 (pdf-file) - Unibet
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4<br />
CEO’S<br />
STATEMENT<br />
“ Moneytainment ® for<br />
everyone… anytime…<br />
anywhere”<br />
<strong>2008</strong> was the year that <strong>Unibet</strong><br />
continued to strengthen as a<br />
leading European Moneytainment ®<br />
company. Today, we have a<br />
stronghold in Northern <strong>and</strong><br />
Western Europe, <strong>and</strong> emerging<br />
positions in Southern <strong>and</strong><br />
Eastern Europe.<br />
<strong>Unibet</strong> Group plc <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Accounts</strong> <strong>2008</strong><br />
Winning<br />
performance<br />
Euro <strong>2008</strong>. The football championship<br />
was the biggest gambling event of<br />
the year.<br />
Big book. <strong>Unibet</strong> ran a book on more<br />
than 900,000 bet offers in <strong>2008</strong> –<br />
more than double that of 2007, <strong>and</strong><br />
significantly increased the type of<br />
bets offered.<br />
Staying power. The new technical<br />
architecture, introduced in 2007 was<br />
put to the most dem<strong>and</strong>ing of tests.<br />
Euro <strong>2008</strong> <strong>and</strong> the Olympics – two<br />
of the world’s biggest betting events.<br />
We are proud of running a true multinational<br />
company of 39 nationalities, serving <strong>and</strong><br />
marketing our extensive betting <strong>and</strong> gaming<br />
suite to clients all over Europe – <strong>and</strong> all in their<br />
local language!<br />
We also take pride in the fact that we have<br />
established ourselves as a leading <strong>and</strong> credible<br />
operator in four key product areas: Sportsbook,<br />
Poker, Casino <strong>and</strong> Bingo, giving us a balanced<br />
portfolio of revenue streams <strong>and</strong> opportunities.<br />
Our Sportsbook is our pride <strong>and</strong> our key<br />
differentiator, boasting unique in-house<br />
software <strong>and</strong> risk management systems.<br />
During <strong>2008</strong> we raised the game by<br />
strengthening our live betting offering,<br />
broadcasting more than 100 live sports events<br />
per week on <strong>Unibet</strong>.com.<br />
While our products have historically been<br />
oriented towards the male population, we are<br />
delighted that within the <strong>Unibet</strong> offering, we now<br />
boast Northern Europe’s largest Bingo network<br />
<strong>and</strong> leading female br<strong>and</strong>, Mariabingo.com.<br />
As with <strong>Unibet</strong>, Maria is migrating from a<br />
regional to a pan-European female br<strong>and</strong>,<br />
attracting players all over Europe.<br />
<strong>2008</strong> was our best year ever in terms of gross<br />
winnings <strong>and</strong> EBITDA. While the weakening of<br />
the pound against the euro helped our top line,<br />
however, it created an unrealised loss on our<br />
euro bond, affecting our net results <strong>and</strong><br />
dividend capability for <strong>2008</strong>.<br />
For the remainder of 2009, <strong>Unibet</strong> is in a strong<br />
position in one of Europe’s largest consumer<br />
industries, being transformed by new
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