Investors disappointed as William Hill fails to name chief and web profits fall

Bookmaker refuses to say whether interim boss will take on full-time role amid anxiety over succession

PROFITS at William Hill’s online division fell by a fifth last year, the bookmaker revealed yesterday, as it also dispointed investors by failing to name a new chief executive.

Investors had been expecting the company’s interim chief executive Philip Bowcock would be confirmed in the role alongside the results.

Shareholders are keen for the company to clear up its succession issue amid stuttering performance. The company’s online division, which represents 34pc of sales, suffered a drop in adjusted operating profits of 20pc to £100.5m in the year to Dec 27.

Online net revenue for the year dropped 3pc to £544.8m. This fall in sales was compounded by a 5pc rise in operating costs due to higher staff costs.

Mr Bowcock said the company’s team had “delivered numerous improvements to the product range, user experience and marketing” with regards to the online division and he had started to see the benefits of this at the end of last year and the start of 2017. Notably, he added, the declines in sportsbook wagering in the first half of 2016 had reversed and were up by 10pc so far in 2017.

However, Mr Bowcock said yesterday he could not comment on the chief executive’s position other than to say the board was now entering the final stages of the appointment process.

The interim chief said tweaks had been made to its mobile app to improve speed and ease of use and that it had also jettisoned roughly a quarter of its affiliate businesses – equivalent to 1,000 – which search for customers on behalf of the group.

The company’s retail estate, which is the largest in the country and accounts for 56pc of group sales, registered flat net revenue at £893.9m as sportsbook betting fell. What William Hill described as “one of our poorest Cheltenham Festivals” and a string of customer-friendly football results at the end of 2016 counteracted a decent showing from the Euro 2016 tournament. This pushed adjusted operating profit in the division down 5pc to £162m.

Management did hit its aim of 2,000 self-service betting terminals in its shops, which allow customers to place bets themselves rather than doing so over the counter.

Australia, which only accounts for 7pc of revenue but is regarded as a future engine of growth, saw amounts wagered rise a third in sterling terms to £1.33bn. This meant that net revenue rose 16pc to £113.8m and adjusted operating profit 15pc to £15.4m. The rises were more conservative in Australian dollar terms.

The group held the dividend at 12.5p. Its shares ended up 2.5pc at 268½p.