BETCLIC EVEREST ONLINE GAMBLING GROUP BATTLING

Thursday June 21, 2012 : BETCLIC EVEREST ONLINE GAMBLING GROUP BATTLING
 
Half-owner Societe des Bains de Mer reports serious losses
 
Societe des Bains de Mer, a fifty percent owner of the troubled Betclic-Everest online gambling group, posted a lacklustre set of annual financial results Wednesday, recording that its net deficit had almost doubled to Euro 33.2 million.
 
Operating income before depreciation from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 decreased by 16 percent year-on-year while operational losses rose by Euro 6.7 million when compared to the previous twelve-month period.
 
The Betclic Everest investment gave SBM little comfort, with SBM declaring a loss of Euro 50.2 million against its stake in the betting group, which it said was  attributable to the ‘implementation of a particularly stringent taxation system’, operational level ‘penalties’ associated with the opening conditions of the French online gaming market and the ‘load related to remuneration of intangible assets and support for this period’s partial depreciation of goodwill noted by the participation of Everest Limited’.