Ladbrokes today released preliminary results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2010 and the signs are that it’s looking good for the elderly British bookie. It might be an even more successful few weeks if they finally manage to make an agreement on a merger with Playtech but with William Hill digging in over their online deal it might be some time until this takes place.
As a whole, the group saw net revenue up by 1.3% to £976.6m from £963.7m for the previous year, and group operating profit before tax and other related costs was up by an impressive from £66.9m in 2009 to £202.3m, representing a rise of 20.1%. It’s the digital and online area where the most impressive results are seen though.
“Our business is going through a process of significant change. We have made good progress to date and our improved performance reflects the decisive management action taken in 2010,” said Richard Glynn, chief executive.
Operating profit rose by 36% on the year before, now at the figure of £62.7m for 2010 up from 46.1% the year before. A lot of this was thanks to the newly created mobile site that delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 78.4% and active customer growth of 205.9%.
Glynn commented: “Within Digital, Sportsbook turnover grew by 17%. The number of Bet In Play events offered in 2010 reached 23,000, an increase of 27%, with amounts staked from Bet In Play events now representing 42% of our total Sportsbook(3). Our innovative range of new apps for mobile devices has helped drive a fivefold increase in the proportion of Digital customers accessing the Mobile service, currently 15%.”
Growth in the digital area has led Ladbrokes to announce that they’re planning to invest £50million in their own online technology over the course of the next two years.
What most had been waiting for was to see if the announcement contained any news regarding possible deals in place with 888 Holdings, and also Playtech. The latter of the two would be far more significant but it still looks as if William Hill won’t be happy to approve of any deal between the two companies due to the agreement for William Hill Online.
