Since first covering 888 on March 3, 2015, shares have jumped 77%. Shares have doubled since January 2015. This despite losing out on its bwin.party bid to GVC and rejecting other merger/acquisition offers. 888 continuing to go it alone has worried investors regarding if it could stand on its own two feet while its competitors were combining forces. The answer looks clear now. Yes, it can. How did they do it?

While acquisition deals have fallen through, and offers for the company have been rejected, this can either be interpreted as weakness or strength. It depends where the company is coming from as a deal materializes. If a company is plateauing and organic growth seems hard to come by, it becomes more desperate for an acquisition as a shot in the arm. If a company is shrinking, it may become more desperate in seeking to be acquired in order to salvage remaining value. But if a company is growing anyway, an acquisition can be a bonus but may not be at the top of its list of priorities, because it is simply not needed to achieve the desired growth. It may be a shortcut, but it is not imperative.

In the immediate aftermath of each deal that didn’t happen, investors got worried. But each deal was rejected for a reason. Bwin.party was too expensive, an offer made for the company by William Hill was turned down for being too low, and in turn 888’s table-turning offer together with Rank Group for William Hill last year was turned down by William Hill. In the meantime, 888 keeps growing, both top line and bottom line, so it is getting more efficient as well.

Year over year, every quarter of 2016 grew by double digit percentages over every quarter of 2015, and growth is not limited to one segment. All segments except poker grew in 2016, poker shrinking by 3.5%. Casino was up 26%, bingo 7%, and sport 57%. While 888 is casino-dominant, it is becoming a more balanced company every year, a 57% growth rate in sportsbook being particularly impressive despite losing out on bwin.party.