Strategy change for Empire Online

Empire Online group has a $260 million cash pile, but is re-thinking its online acquisitions strategy as a result of the growing legal uncertainties currently being experienced in world markets.

Listed in the London Stock Exchange, the group has declared a $5 million dividend, and it warned investors that the second quarter of this year is very disappointing.

Net gaming revenues for the first six months of 2006 fell to $38.2 million, compared with $49.7 million for the same period in 2005. The group was seen as a consolidator of smaller online rivals, but it may now be returning some of that surplus to investors instead.