Coral ready to bet on mergers
TWO of Britain’s biggest gaming companies said they could roll the dice on more mega-deals after scoring financial success from the Euro 2016 football tournament.
Bookmaker Gala Coral is closing in on the sale of up to 400 betting shops required to complete a £2.3billion tieup with Ladbrokes.
Coral’s chief executive Carl Leaver said: “The strategic rationale for us was compelling. There will be other examples of equally compelling deals. I see no reason why the group would not take a look at those opportunities.”
Coral’s posted a 13 per cent rise in third-quarter pre-tax earnings to £57.7million on 10 per cent higher revenue of £264million. It hailed “encouraging” numbers of customers signed up during Euro 2016 using digital channels instead of TV advertising. The progress of less fancied teams such as Iceland and Wales, proved a winner. Leaver said: “It was the strongest Euros we have ever had. Bookmakers had been concerned the addition of so many teams would make the results very predictable. The expectation was that margins would be low. That didn’t end up being the case.” Meanwhile, online gaming group 888, which failed with a joint £3billionplus bid approach with Rank Group for William Hill, said it would continue to “appraise strategic opportunities”. CEO Itai Frieberger said a tie-up with Rank was not in its plans, but the firm remains “open for business” on a potential transformational deal. Joining forces with William Hill remains a possibility. He said: “At some point and in some structure will happen. In our industry, we are by far the leaders in terms of our technology. These are assets that any other operators will kill for.” 888 grew its half-year revenue by 19 per cent to $262million and adjusted pretax earnings by 8 per cent to $44.1million as a “successful” Euro 2016 fuelled “outstanding” growth in its sport business.