Devilfish declares £2m loss
DEVILFISH Gaming, the Altrincham-based egaming company which last month announced that it was in talks to sell its main trading subsidiary, Devil fish Poker, declared a £2.1m pre-tax loss in the year to June 30 on revenues of just £783,353 (2009: £695,072).
The company, which was co-founded by Kevin Leech and finance director Andrew Flitcroft three years ago to build an egaming brand around the “Devilfish” brand, said that efforts to cut its cost base “where practically available” meant that it had been unable to actively market the brand.
Flitcroft, who is chief financial officer, said that as a result of this and increasing competition in the market, the PLUS-listed firm took the decision to sell off the Devilfish Poker site. The deal, for £330,000, is to another stockmarket-listed company and only £40,000 will be paid in cash, with the remainder being paid in shares in the acquiring company.
It said that talks with a potential buyer were ongoing and that it expected the deal to complete soon. Leech retired from the firm on health grounds in August and the company’s non-executive chairman David Boden resigned last month.
The firm said that at the start of 2010 it had taken out a short term, unsecured loan to boost working capital and added that directors also took a significant pay cut as it sought to find permanent funding or a strategic alliance. However, this was unseccuessful and the company, whose site is operated by a Maltese firm, has cut costs further with the directors working on a “pro bono” basis.
The company said that it began marketing the site for sale in September, and that there were “several” interested parties. It said that its unnamed preferred bidder was chosen as it would provide the best return to shareholders, particularly in terms of the “future upside” of the acquiring firm’s shares.
Once the sale is agreed, the firm will remain on PLUS as a non-trading shell. The company said that it would “actively seek suitable and appropriate acquisitions to return value to its shareholders”.
