Betfair posts $101.4 million loss for fiscal year 2013

Betfair, the British betting-exchange operator that owns Television Games Network, had a net loss of $101.4 million in the fiscal year 2013, according to the company, a sharp reversal from net income of $52 million posted by the company in fiscal year 2012.

Revenue for the fiscal year was $592.1 million, nearly identical to revenue of $594.4 million in the previous fiscal year. But Betfair took a $126.1 million charge as an impairment on its “goodwill and other intangible assets,” steering the company into the red.

During the year, Betfair stopped taking bets in Greece, Germany, and Spain because of pushback by regulators. The company has put a new management team in place, and it recently rejected a takeover bid that valued the company at approximately $1.5 billion.

In an analysis of the fiscal-year results accompanying its financial statements, Betfair said TVG had a “positive underlying EBITDA for the first time” of $4.4 million, compared with an EBITDA loss of $1.4 million the previous fiscal year. EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and is used by companies to measure cash flow. Revenue during the year for TVG was $58.1 million, up 5 percent from $55.4 million in fiscal year 2012, according to the company’s financial documents.