Bad weather and poor sporting results hit William Hill's profits
Feb 27 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
WILLIAM Hill posted a 7% fall in annual profits after the recession, poor sporting results and weather disruption hit the business.
The group endured a difficult summer when Premier League football matches yielded few draws as well as plenty of victories for favoured teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea.
Margins recovered in the final three months of last year and Hill’s online operation delivered a strong performance – pushing revenues 4% higher for the year as a whole to £997.9m. Pre-tax profits were £197.5m.
The company said its core retail business delivered a robust performance after an 8% decline in amounts wagered and a 12% drop in over-the-counter revenues when accounting for winning bets.
The company’s retail estate enjoyed greater success with its gaming machines after gross win per machine increased by 6% to a week. It is currently rolling out new terminals, which will be in the majority of shops by the end of March and feature 22-inch dual screens.
In the first seven weeks of the new financial year, William Hill said its gaming machines continued to deliver good growth, with gross win up 7%. The figure for over-the-counter bets declined 13%.
Although the severe weather led to fixture cancellations in January, it said this was broadly in line with the number of weather-related cancellations in the first two months of 2009. The company is now gearing up for the World Cup, which generated more than £5m in additional over-the-counter revenues during 2006.
