MIXI has surpassed a significant milestone in its pursuit of PointsBet, moving its shareholding in the Australian wagering company beyond 50 per cent, which has triggered a two-week extension of its offer.
MIXI’s offer of $1.25 per share was set to close on Friday but has now been extended until September 12, as the Japanese-backed company builds a controlling shareholding in the face of a concerted rival bid from betr.
The war over PointsBet has not been won yet, but MIXI looks well poised, with PointsBet’s board remaining unanimous in its support for its offer over betr, which still holds 19.6 per cent of PointsBet.
“The longer-term value of betr’s unsolicited script offer is heavily reliant on significant synergies which, in PointsBet's view, have been materially overstated by betr,” chief executive Sam Swanell said.
“Regardless, without betr having 100 per cent control of PointsBet and with MIXI likely to be the largest shareholder, it would be prudent of PointsBet shareholders to assume there will be no material synergies."
PointsBet, meanwhile, announced record group net revenue for the past financial year of $261.4 million, up six per cent on last year, while it also recorded normalised EBITDA profitability of $11.2 million.
This occurred despite a 14 per cent drop in its Australian turnover, which fell from $2.68 billion to $2.31 billion, but an increase in its gross win margin which saw overall gross win identical to last year and net win up three per cent.
PointsBet also revealed it paid $115.3 million in GST, product fees and Point Of Consumption Tax to governments and racing and sports bodies over the year. It also reduced its Australian marketing spend by seven per cent to $42.1 million.
Swanell said that turnover numbers remain seven per cent down year on year, which is broadly on par with the rest of the industry, but there are positive signs in recent months.
“We note that the last quarter was a bit more positive with some positive margins for operators. So hopefully that's looking like things are getting back to a period where we can have some growth for the overall market,” he said.
Bren O’Brien
