SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Issuing a trading updating, FTSE listed betting operator William Hill has revealed that it will have to revise its year guidance following a poor start to 2016.
Coming off a rough week of results at Cheltenham 2016, which saw racing punters cash-in on multiple favourites combined with further unfavourable European football results, William Hill governance stated that its online division was £15 million down for its opening quarter performance.
Furthermore, the company has revealed that new online customer ‘self-exclusion’ functionalities have impacted revenues generated by ‘High-Value Customers’, who have opted out of playing
This morning, William Hill governance issued a surprise update declaring that it expected 2016 operating profit to fall between £260 – 280 million, down on full-year 2015’s £291 million.
Coming into 2016, City analysts had forecasted William Hill to deliver profits of circa £300-318 million.
On a current trend basis, William Hill estimates that its online profits will be reduced by circa £20 – 25 million in 2016.
Issuing the update James Henderson CEO of William Hill said on Tuesday: “Today’s statement reflects the combined effect of our assessment of the impact of recent regulatory changes and unfavourable sporting results including the worst results at Cheltenham in our recent history.
“We have also experienced softer UK growth as a consequence of acquiring lower value customers. While the rest of the group is performing in line with our expectations, we continue to focus on improving our online performance so that we can, once again, outperform the market.”
A poor Cheltenham, which will likely impact all bookmakers has seen a shares dip throughout the portfolio of listed industry operators. William Hill recorded a 13% decline while shares in Ladbrokes were down + 5% and Paddy Power Betfair dipping by just over 2%.
