The case of GVC can get you to question the meaning of the term “public company”. On the one hand, GVC trades on a public exchange. A secondary AIM UK exchange analogous to the OTC in the United States, but you can own shares of it, so in that sense it’s public. On the other hand, very little pertinent information about GVC’s operations is actually publicly available. Annual and interim reports paste together the end result of all its operations but don’t tell you where any of it is coming from. In that sense GVC is not a public company. If you choose to own it, you’re not going to know exactly what you own unless you’re on the inside.

All we really know is that GVC makes money hand over fist and it hands over most of that cash to shareholders. GVC’s dividend yield is in the stratosphere, over 13% at current prices. It pays out almost like a real estate investment trust rather than a company focused on growth. Last year GVC made £41M and at a dividend of 55 pence a share, will pay out nearly £34M of that in dividends in 2015. That means over 80% of its income goes to shareholders. REITS pay 90% by law, so we’re pretty close here. That’s great if you’re looking for fast income, but it’s also a bit of a sugar rush. If GVC were a solid growth-focused company, it would keep some of that cash to invest in organic expansion.

There’s plenty more to say about the unknowns here, but we’ll put the positives first. The good news, besides the obvious growth in top and bottom line, is that GVC is looking to move into the Romanian market, which is great because it means we actually know something about where its future business will be. A second big positive is that it is not as heavily reliant on sportsbook as it once was. In 2014, sports NGR and gaming NGR were pretty much equal. This compares to 2012 when sports to gaming was 76% to 18%, so the company is balancing its business well, or at least better than it was in the recent past. Third, its Greek market is recovering, though once again we just don’t know how crucial the Greek market is for GVC. All we know is that it is “important for the Group.”

A fourth good sign is that expenses continue to drop in relation to its net revenue. Total staff costs plus performance pay is down to 32.3% of revenue from 37.8% in 2013, meaning the company is getting more efficient. Here is the full breakdown from the annual report.