Join +750K new investors every month who copy stock picks from billionaire's portfoliosSign Up Free

Ladbrokes shares boosted by online betting growth

Published 22/10/2015, 13:37
© Reuters.  Ladbrokes shares boosted by online betting growth
LCL
-

LONDON (Reuters) - Increasing digital revenue and a strong start to the soccer season helped bookmaker Ladbrokes (L:LAD) report its strategy under new boss Jim Mullen was making progress, sending its shares sharply higher.

Ladbrokes, Britain's second-largest retail bookmaker by number of stores but long an underperformer online, is in the process of completing a 2.3 billion pound merger with Gala Coral, partly aimed at boosting its presence online.

While the company said on Thursday the merger was on track, it added there was no material news it could give on the regulatory process.

Instead investors focused on the company's strategy of developing its "multi-channel" offering, with third-quarter digital revenue up 6.4 percent, or 10.5 percent after stripping out the impact of the soccer World Cup last year.

That maintained a similar level of growth recorded in the first half, but mobile bets were up 69 percent by value, slightly ahead of the first half.

The statement helped soften the blow of a 57 percent fall in earnings before interest and tax to 14.3 million pounds, as expected, as Britain tightened regulation and ramped up taxation in the gambling sector.

"With sports betting at our core, we see customers responding well to our products, our value and to our recently launched multi-channel offer," said Mullen.

Ladbrokes said it had raised 1.35 billion pounds to finance the new betting group, which will seek to combine Ladbrokes' dominance of betting in physical stores with Coral's success in online.

"We think the results should be taken well by the market, particularly given the strong staking (betting) levels," UBS said in a note.

Ladbrokes shares were up 6.2 percent by 1004 GMT.

Mullen, formerly the group's digital boss, was named CEO in March with a brief to further boost the group's digital position. Three months later he announced the talks with Gala Coral.

($1 = 0.6466 pounds)

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.