Amaya reports strong H1 2015 opening as operator restructures long term debt plan

Issuing a 2015 H1 update, Toronto listed Amaya Inc noted that its customers were embracing its non-poker offerings as the operator recorded a 5% increase in group revenues to CAD $ 656 million (2014: CAD $624 million).

Amaya the owning company of PokerStars and Full Tilt gaming brands, would record growth on all key metrics for both Q2 and H1 2015 results (See graph below). Its strong H1 performance would see the company post EBITDA earnings of CAD $ 279 million, combines with net earnings of CAD $ 170 million.

Giving further insights into operational highlights during the period, Amaya Inc stated that it had added an aggregate of 1.9 million customer registrations during Q2. The operator further noted that it had recorded an increase in active customers to 5.7 million during Q2 2015.

The operator’s performance was further aided by a Gross deposits increased of approximately 4% on a constant currency basis, including approximately 7% on the PokerStars brand.

Detailing its corporate progress under Amaya Inc ownership, the operator noted that it had paid approximately US$529 million of its long-term debt, reducing total debt from approximately US$3.134 billion to approximately US$2.605 billion.

As previously announced in H1 2015, Amaya governance had managed to refinance certain terms of its long debt incurred in last year’s acquisition of Rational Group (PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands).

As a result of the Refinancing and the repayment of debt since the acquisition of its B2C business, Amaya expects that its annual interest expense will reduce by approximately US$62 million, of which approximately US$26.2 million is related to the Refinancing, thereby strengthening its cash flow generation, liquidity and leverage profile.

Commenting on corporate performance Amaya CEO David Baazov stated

“This was another exciting quarter for Amaya. Our core poker business remains strong and our customers have embraced our expansion into non-poker offerings.”

“We’ve completed our transition to a pure B2C technology company having finalized the divestiture of our B2B businesses. We substantially reduced our leverage and improved our financial condition. Since the acquisition of our B2C business, we’ve repaid approximately US$529 million of our long-term debt, thereby eliminating an estimated US$62 million of related interest expense”.

Amaya Inc Q2/H1 2015 Performance Overview