(Alliance News) - Gambling software firm GAN PLC on Friday said the company is no longer up for sale, and also swung to a first half profit on a sharp revenue rise.
Shares in GAN jumped 21% to 87.45 pence each in London on Friday morning.
In March, the group put itself up for sale as part of a strategic review. GAN said it received multiple bids but they "did not represent fair value for shareholders".
In turn, it has closed its formal sales process and said it will now attempt to attain a US listing.
Turning to interim figures, in the six months to June 30, GAN's revenue more than doubled to GBP11.3 million from GBP4.6 million. It made a pretax profit of GBP777,000, improving year-on-year from a loss of GBP3.4 million.
The firm reported revenue rises in all its geographic divisions. The US, the greatest contributor to revenue, achieved a revenue jump to GBP8.9 million from GBP2.8 million.
There was more modest growth in Italy, revenue rose by 1.8% to GBP1.8 million from GBP1.7 million. In the UK it grew more than ten-fold to GBP623,000 from GBP56,000 and by 76% in the Rest of the World to GBP30,000 from GBP17,000.
Looking ahead, the company is projecting a "record year" for revenue in 2019. Trading in the eight months to the end of August has been "significantly ahead of board expectations".
The company expects revenue growth in its Simulated Gaming and real money gambling operations in the second half of the year. Income from its US markets are also expected to improve, largely due to the start of the American National Football League season.
The launch of an internet casino gaming venture with Paddy Power owners Flutter Entertainment PLC will also add to its online gambling revenue, GAN said.
