888 Holdings plc
14 September 2006

888 Holdings Public Limited Company

('888' or the 'Company')


Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2006





888, one of the world's most popular online gaming entertainment companies,
announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2006.


Financial Highlights


Profit before tax* up 88% to $48.0m (H1 2005: $25.6m)
Net Gaming Revenues ('NGR') up 32% to $163.5m (H1 2005: $123.7m)
Profit before tax* margin up to 29% (H1 2005: 21%)
Operating expenses % of NGR down to 25.6% (H1 2005: 28.0%)
Cost per acquisition** of US$165 (H1 2005: US$200)
Net cash generated from operating activities up 109% to $56.1m (H1 2005:
$26.8m)
Basic EPS* up 89% to 13.8c (H1 2005: 7.3c)
Interim dividend of 4.5c per share
Special dividend of 4.0c per share


* 2006 - excluding share benefit charges


** Excluding customers recruited on a revenue share basis.


Operational Highlights


Geographical expansion outside US - 48% of NGR from non-US territories
and 67% of new real money sign ups from non-US territories


Rapid growth in NGR in the UK up 61% and Continental Europe up 16%


Increased yields per member from Casino and Poker divisions


Continued technological innovation


Continued investment in the 888 brand through sports sponsorships
including two new football sponsorships with Sevilla FC and Toulouse FC in
addition to the World Snooker Championship and a third year with
Middlesbrough FC


Commenting, John Anderson, CEO of 888 said:


'These are excellent results and represent a record performance of profitable
growth. We have delivered on all our flotation goals.


Trading during the first 10 weeks of Q3 is in line with management expectations
and we are on track to achieve a satisfactory outcome for the full year.

As of 31 December 2006, I shall step down as CEO and take the role of
non-executive Director. The current COO, Gigi Levy will succeed me as CEO.
Gigi is an excellent, experienced individual who is more than capable of taking
on this challenge.

I am proud to have led 888, since 2000, through its formative years into the
success it is today. Over the past six years, 888 has been a pioneer in the
online gaming industry.'



An audio replay of the presentation to analysts will be available from the
investor relations section of 888's website (
http://www.888holdingsplc.com

Interesting though, that no matter how good the results are (& they are excellent) the sp is down due to nervousness over U.S. anti-sports betting moves.

should rebound tomoro...170p i reckon

I'm in at 145-bought for the rebound, excellent results and the special divi! I'm out of SBT at the mo can't afford em all, but am holding on to my PRTY. agree with Maestro this is a good company oversold.

The Questor column
Edited by James Quinn

(Filed: 15/09/2006)



In the lottery of online betting businesses, 888 is worth a punt

888 Holdings
Stock: 151p +4.5p
Questor says Buy

Of all the places to place your bets, online gambling operators are perhaps the riskiest. Shares across the sector have been highly volatile since the US authorities started to feel the collars of British executives, including Sportingbet chairman Peter Dicks, who yesterday quit his post at the online gamer despite being allowed to return to the UK following a hearing in the US (see B1). That said, looking at the half-year figures of online casino group 888 Holdings, you wouldnt know anything was amiss in the sector. Pre-tax profits increased 78pc to $44.1m (23.3m) on net gaming revenues up 32pc to $164m.


The company is paying out a 4.5 interim dividend on October 31 plus a special dividend of 4. So is all as rosy as it looks? Importantly, 888 is not involved in sports betting, which is the key tormentor to the US authorities at the moment. In addition, 888 has enjoyed lower customer acquisition costs by being smarter with its marketing budget. Only high-spending customers and frequent customers have been receiving bonuses and this has a double benefit to the company. As well as keeping costs down, it has helped push up average spend per customer in the second quarter to $622 per active customer from $463 a year before. This is a highly impressive figure, though the company is unlikely to repeat this jump in improvement. Hats off to them, says Richard Carter at Numis Securities, who has upgraded his pre-tax profit forecasts by more than $5m to $97.8m. The one downside is that it is obviously having difficulty spending its cash, hence yesterdays special dividend.

888 is on the lookout for acquisitions, pointing out it is on course to generate more than $100m of free cash this year and has taken a look in the past at Ukbetting. But it has not struck any major deal in the past year, and nor is it about to. The shares were at 245p before the summer, but have been punished by the general sector malaise, and at this level are well worth backing.

15th Sept 06

Panmure Gordon says buy 888 Holdings , BAE Systems (LSE: AP16.L - news) , Dignity , Foseco , nCipher , Premier Foods (LSE: PFD.L - news) , Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB.L - news)

Numis says buy 888 Holdings and Communisis (LSE: CMS.L - news)

Yeah, but at what price. They have just dipped 10p to 1.39.
IMO it is essential to only hold a short position on any of these gambling stocks.

why,..because some yankee bible bashing hillbilly don't like gambling...dream on!

Its all starting to get very messy indeed, it will be a tough week ahead.

Fact is ,profit before tax up 88% ,wow

888 is indeed a cash cow, generating massive profits

Maybe, but 888 is on the hitlist of the state controlled PMU in France & 888 are the recent sponsors of Toulouse stadium which is a huge conflict of interests.
I think that their profit forecast may have to be considerably trimmed.
Difficult times ahead, both for U.S. & European facing sites.
If the Far Eastern countries start the same clamp down, internet gambling would, imo, be sunk.

You'll find most of the coverage of the little unrests in the gaming sector are used by the swing traders to get the price down, let it bounce back, down on the next news etc...

The simple fact is these companies are raking the money in, and all that the authorities can try to do to get their hands on some of the money is arrest a few execs, so what. Its shows their impotence that this is all they can do. Being a nuisance, thats all they can.

The swing traders are using laughable news with a massive negative slant, does the SP of BAT fall if Korea introduces tougher cigarrete controls ? (Its a large market for BAT), or if China clamps down on smoking in public places (an even larger BAT market). No, of course not, but that kind of news has more implcations for the likes of Imperial and BAT than a few exec's in the gaming industry being arrested.

The swing traders are playing everyone for fools, and a fool and their money are soon parted.

FSA should investigate who is shorting these gaming stocks...its obvious bets were put on from people in the know who knew these arrests were coming friday

PP - I am sure SBT would be very flattered that you are comparing them to BATS but you have, imo, missed the point.
SBT is a small company with 8.8m of assets, with 324m shares in circulation.
BATS has assets of over 2b, turnover of over 9b & over 2b shares in circulation.
If SBT lose a significant market share, such as the U.S., then that will impact on their profitability within a short period of time.
BATS are constantly under threat of litigation in the U.S. over smoking / health issues but still manage to show a healthy profit. Plus smoking is not illegal for adults anywhere in the world(Except in specific public areas). Gambling is, rightly or wrongly.

nice recovery today- good dividend early October.

Re: Investors Chronicle - 888 article ?? Mellious
22 September 2006

888 HOLDINGS (888)

"888 has no involvement in sports betting," the internet's leading casino-site operator reassured its investors, following the arrests in US airports of the directors of two prominent online bookmaking firms. In reality, though, it's doubtful that the US authorities would distinguish between sports betting and roulette, were one of 888's top brass also to touch down on their soil.

Nevertheless, 888's management team is diversifying the business outside the US. Nearly half of its net gaming revenues came from other countries during the first six months of this year. And more than two-thirds of those who opened an account with one of 888's websites were non-US citizens.

While the US crackdown has clearly played havoc with 888's share price, it has not hurt the business. Both its casino and poker interests have achieved decent growth in net gaming revenue. The big risk, though, is if the US steps up its campaign, whether by trying to disrupt payments to and from online gambling sites, or by other tactics. So broker Panmure Gordon expects adjusted EPS to rise from 19.3 to 27.1 (about 14.4p) this year, and to 31.9 in 2007.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ord price: 146p Market value: 492m
Touch: 146-148p 12-month High: 263p Low: 130p
Dividend yield: 1.64% PE ratio: 14
Net asset value: 23 Net debt: $86.8m
1 = $1.88



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Half-year Turnover Pre-tax Earnings Dividend per
to 30 Jun ($m) profit ($m) per share () share ()

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2005 124 25.6 7.3 nil
2006 164 44.1 12.7 4.5
% change +32 +72 +74 -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last IC view: Buy, 148p, 28 Jul 2006
Ex-div: 11 Oct
Payment: 31 Oct
Excludes special dividend of 4 a share


888's shares are back to where we tipped them last year at 143p (18 November 2005). True, they're high-risk, but the rating is as cheap as chips, and there's an attractive dividend yield, too. Still worth a gamble. Buy.

could one of you smart investors decipher the director share purchases RNS for me. Have they invested their own cash with a matching award of options or were all these shares given free by the company....thanks for any help.

bonfield.

Now the question is whether the lure of a good dividend and the good results are enough to counter the bad news concerning the blocking of payments to & from banks & credit card companies to internet gambling sites?
888 seem to be in a slightly better position than SBT & PRTY, but future profits are likely to suffer imo.

888 possible target by Ladbrokes according to reporter in Mail on Sunday.

PartyGaming and 888 Holdings in talks about 1.6 bln stg merger - reports
AFXU


LONDON (AFX) - Online poker operators PartyGaming PLC and 888 Holdings have held talks about a 1.6 bln stg merger, according to reports.

The companies, which have been hit by new US laws restricting online gambling, have held exploratory discussions in the last couple of weeks to combine their pool of online players, several UK Sunday newspapers reported.

The Sunday Times quoted a source as saying all the companies in the sector had been talking to each other to try to find a solution to the problems caused by the new legislation.

Other firms also trying to find ways to consolidate reportedly include Sportingbet, Excapsa and Austrian group Bwin Interactive Entertainment.

In the F.T. 4th Nov:
"It is believed that Ladbrokes have been in early talks with 888."
"Analysts have long believed that Ladbrokes would make a take-over move on 888, with a good match of of the 888 casino brand & Ladbrokes onshore betting empire."

Up 10% this afternoon. Has anyone info on this rise as no rns released yet.