Profits race ahead at Paddy Power Betfair
Paddy Power Betfair has reported rising sales and earnings in the first half but admitted it had been hit by the lack of a major football tournament and customerfriendly sports results.
The bookmaker, which revealed earlier this week that chief executive Breon Corcoran is to step down after 16 years, reported 9 per cent year-on-year revenue growth to £827 million in the six months to 30 June.
Core earnings rose by about a fifth to £220m but the firm said that, despite strong firstquarter growth helped by favourable Cheltenham results, the following period suffered from “the absence of a major football tournament and adverse sports results”.
Last year, bookmakers were boosted by the European Championships and in particular by England’s exit at the hands of minnows Iceland.
Corcoran, who is to be replaced by Worldpay boss Peter Jackson, said: “We continue to make substantial investments to position Paddy Power Betfair as a structural winner in a dynamic and highly competitive market.
“The focus of this investment is to use technology to improve efficiency and minimise the cost of serving our customers and to further enhance our customer proposition.”
Paddy Power Betfair confirmed that current trading was in line with expectations but analysts at Numis sounded a note of caution. They said: “Whilst we expect online gaming growth to improve, competition remains high and we continue to be mindful of external regulatory headwinds facing the business.”