SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
FTSE100 betting group Paddy Power Betfair Plc (PPB) has readjusted its full-year 2018 underlying EBITDA to be between £460 – 480 million range, detailing that its momentum will be impacted by the introduction of ‘new taxes in Australia and costs incurred by its acquisition of US fantasy sports operator FanDuel’.
Despite the cost adjustments, PPB governance declares positive interim H1 2018 results (period ending 30 June), with the company detailing metric and KPI growth across its core divisions.
PPB records a +7 % increase in group revenues to £867 million, with the betting group maintaining a period EBITDA of £217 million, despite incurring higher period costs.
Peter Jackson, PPB Chief Executive, commented: “It has been a busy and successful few months for Paddy Power Betfair. We have made substantial progress against our strategic priorities and trading in Q2 was good, with all brands and operating divisions contributing to the Group’s double-digit revenue growth”.
Operationally PPB continues its core objective of returning its flagship brand ‘Paddy Power to growth’, detailing strong progress on the matter.
However, the FTSE enterprise declares that its global agenda has been significantly accelerated during H1 2018, as PPB scales up its Australia Sportsbet division with new products and marketing.
Stateside, PPB has completed the combination of Betfair US and FanDuel, forming its new US platform proposition which will target aggressive expansions in the coming months, seeking to create the outright market leader in US betting.
“In Australia, despite significant upcoming tax headwinds, Sportsbet continues to target further market share gains by using its scale to increase investment in marketing, product and its value proposition.
In the USA, we were delighted to add FanDuel to the Group’s portfolio of leading sports brands, creating the industry’s largest online business, with a large sports-focused customer base and an extensive nationwide footprint. Our FanDuel sportsbook is now available in New Jersey and with our recent partnership with Boyd Gaming we’re looking forward to launching in further states as the legislation progresses.”
