Hedge fund’s bookie stake
A LEADING investment fund has put its cash behind underpressure William Hill.
Mayfair-based Silchester International Investors has bought 5pc of the bookmaker’s stock – which has almost halved over the past four years to 240p, at last night’s closing price.
It is a boost for William Hill which is under huge pressure from higher taxes, tighter regulation, and rising competition, but the bookmaker posted an improved performance this summer.
Silchester focuses on longterm investments and has made its founder Stephen Butt one of London’s wealthiest fund managers.
The fund is now William Hill’s eighth largest investor with 43.35m shares worth £104m. The largest is Capital World Investors with 54.72m.
William Hill said revenue rose 3pc to £837m in the first half of 2017, in a recovery from last year when it fired its chief executive James Henderson for not making enough progress.
It is also facing the prospect of a crackdown on fixed-odds betting machines. George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said earlier this month: ‘A crackdown on fixedodds betting terminals is looking increasingly likely, and with each of the machines in William Hill’s fleet earning the group over £1,000 a week, any significant changes would hit the group hard.’
In June 17 partners at Silchester International Investors shared a £125m payday after the firm’s profits surged to more than £175m in the 12 months to the end of March.