William Hill Plc Posts Small Drop In Q3 Results During Testing Quarter

William Hill plc demonstrated how robust its business model is after its Q3 results showed only a 3% drop in revenue during a particularly testing quarter to produce a 3% increase in net revenue for the year so far. The news was received favourably by the market and shares in the company rose 10% or 16.5p to 177.6p.
Britain’s second biggest bookmaker, which has 2,300 shops, said its revenue was impacted by “unfavourable sporting results,” referring primarily to the first six week of the English Premier League where punters strongly backed the top four football sides who won most of their games. In addition, only 6% of matches were tied instead of the anticipated 25% resulting  in William Hill losing £7m from its online operating profit and a fifth of earnings from betting shops.
Despite the William Hill sportsbook falling 36% in net revenue, turnover was up by 40% and the company commented: “Whilst we do not anticipate that we will be able to recover the impact in the third quarter of adverse sporting results over the balance of 2009, we continue to be pleased by the overall performance of William Hill Online and are particularly encouraged by the strong Sportsbook turnover since the start of the football season,”
William Hills online sports-betting operations or ‘sportsbook’ have proven a strong asset for the company and Q3 saw its net revenue increased 56% online or 2% if the Playtech acquisition is discounted. Switching platforms to Playtech has proven particularly lucrative with  98% increase reported in net revenue over the Q3 2008 results, derived from online casino, poker, bingo and skill games.
“William Hill Online is continuing to make good progress with especially strong growth in sportsbook volumes,” William Hill chief exec Ralph Topping said. “With the launch of our new Playtech casino before the end of October, integration of our acquisition will be complete.”