UK race and pools betting operator Sportech took a digital dive in 2015 following the loss of two “significant customers” but believes new customer signings will stem the tide in 2016.

Sportech’s overall revenue fell 4% last year to £100.2m, while earnings were down a similar slice to £23.1m. Statutory pre-tax profit came to £9.7m, up from a £20m loss in 2014.

The year-on-year profit comparison is illusory, given that 2015’s numbers were goosed by the sale of Sportech’s New Jersey online gambling business – which added £8.1m to pre-tax profits – while the 2014 loss was largely due to a non-cash impairment of goodwill at Sportech’s Football Pools division.

The Sportech Racing & Digital division reported earnings up £500k to £8.6m thanks largely to supplying new hardware and software for Betfred’s Totepool operations, but online revenue fell 38% to £4m and online profits fell by half to just £600k. Sportech hopes to rebound in 2016 following its signing of new clients in Asia, an expanded relationship with Penn National Gaming and a new deal with the Hawthorne Racecourse in Chicago.