888 mulls takeovers as operating income up

LONDON (Reuters) - Online gaming company 888 Holdings (888.L) said its second-quarter operating income rose 36 percent, helped by growth in casino gaming revenues, and its chief executive told Reuters the group is mulling takeovers.

888, Britain's second-biggest listed Internet gaming group, said operating income for the three months to June 30 was $69 million (35 million pounds), up from $51 million a year earlier.

888 attributed the improvement to growth in its flagship casino gaming division, where revenue rose 27 percent to $35 million. The company also benefited from strong progress in bingo and sports betting, which had combined revenues of $12 million compared with $2 million a year earlier.

That offset a flat performance from 888's poker operation, where revenues were unchanged at $20 million as some players chose to watch the European football championships instead.

By 9:35 a.m., 888 shares were down 1.3 percent at 151.75 pence.

"We are definitely looking into a few acquisition opportunities," chief executive Gigi Levy said in an interview with Reuters.

"We are quite likely to be doing an acquisition in the coming quarters," he said, declining to give further details.

888's most recent acquisition was the $32.4 million takeover of the online bingo division of privately-owned Globalcom in March last year.

The following month, 888 and Ladbrokes (LAD.L) broke off talks about a possible takeover of 888 by the bookmaker.