Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) shares fell sharply today following news a fellow Sydney bookie is making preparations for an initial public offering (IPO). By the market's close, the Pointsbet share price had slumped 6.27% to $13.75.
Let's take a closer look.
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A new horse on the track?
The Pointsbet share price was on a losing streak today after The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported Randwick Racecourse-based Bookmaker BlueBet is gearing up for an IPO in the first half of 2021. The company's market capitalisation is expected to exceed $150 million.
AFR further noted that BlueBet is estimated to have "…annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars."
With the support of brokers Ord Minnett and Morgans, BlueBet is preparing for an upcoming roadshow.
In further news weighing down the Pointsbet share price, yesterday the company announced that UBS Group has ceased to be a substantial shareholder as of 26 February 2021. On that day, the trading volume for Pointsbet shares was 2.2 million, compared to its average five-day volume of approximately 1.2 million shares.
Investors sell after first-half results
In its latest earnings report, Pointsbet posted a net loss of $85.6 million for the first half of FY21 (1H21). This compares to a net loss of $32.3 million in 1H20.
Loss per share was 47.6 cents in 1H21 vs 25.9 cents in 1H20.
1H21 revenue from ordinary activities jumped 174% compared to the prior corresponding period (pcp), totalling $75.1 million.
Pointsbet advised that highlights for the 1H21 period included a $353.2 million capital raise completed in September 2020 and being admitted to the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) on 22 June 2020.
As of 31 December 2020, Pointbet's Australian business had 142,992 active clients and its United States business had 68,094 active clients. This represents increases of 77% and 222%, respectively, compared to the pcp.
Pointsbet share price snapshot
Pointsbet is an online bookmaker with operations in Australia and New Jersey, USA.
The Pointsbet share price has gained 24.55% over the past six months and a whopping 275% over the past year.
Pointsbet has a market capitalisation of around $2.7 billion and there are presently 183.4 million shares outstanding.
