Operatornieuws
Austria – Sazka announces intention to take sole control of Casinos Austria
By Phil - 15 augustus 2017
The largest shareholder of Casinos Austria, the Czech Sazka Group, ‘intends to acquire the sole control of Casinos Austria’ according to a statement published by the Federal Competition Authority (BWB).
Sazka Group, which runs the Czech national lottery, is owned by Czech businessmen Karel Komarek and Jiri Smejc. It said it had bought more shares in Casinos Austria to take its shareholding from 11.3 per cent to about 34 per cent.
The second largest shareholder is the state owned ÖBIB with 33.2 per cent followed by Novomatic with 17.2 per cent. Novomatic had tried to take control of the company last year but failed in the courts. It is not believed to be interested in selling its shares.
Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries Group have just reported the best financial year in their 50-year corporate history with an eight per cent rise in group revenues to a record €3,885.95m. Sustained investments in improving and extending its portfolio as well as measures to improve efficiency also led to the group achieving clear increases in results: operating results rose by 49 per cent to €150.1m, while group consolidated results were up by 65 per cent to €91.2m.
Er was ook reden tot feest onder de klanten en gasten, die samen een totale winst van € 2.7 miljard mee naar huis namen, een stijging van 11.3 procent ten opzichte van 2015 en wederom een historisch hoogtepunt.
Bezoekersaantallen bij casino's De 12 binnenlandse casino's van Oostenrijk stegen in 10.6 met 2016 procent vergeleken met het voorgaande jaar: samen verwelkomden deze casino's in totaal 3,009,946 gasten, van wie meer dan de helft internationale bezoekers waren. Dit leidde op zijn beurt tot een sterke stijging van de gaming-inkomsten, die jaar-op-jaar met 5.2 procent stegen tot € 326.83 miljoen.
