William Hill sees 10 percent rise in shares

UK bookmaker William Hill has announced that its full-year profits are to remain in line with its previous expectations. This news led to a 10 percent rise in its shares.

It had been experiencing problems earlier this year, one of which involved the lack of draws in the domestic Premier League football season. Whereas the rate of draws is usually 25 percent of games, at the beginning of the season this was down to 6 percent. But now this is back to normal, which has helped the bookmaker to post its improved results.

Two weeks ago, another British bookkeeper, Ladbrokes, had reported a 15 percent drop in its sports betting net revenue. As a result, analysts had feared worse results for William Hill. But the bookmaker had seen more punters betting their winnings again in their shops, a process known as recycling, leading to the more positive announcement.

Before this, William Hill did not experience a great few months. Its share price fell from 192p to 175p in September, and its online business had not been performing as well as it had hoped after being revamped last year with help from Playtech.

But the online operations are now strengthening, and betting volumes have also gone up. As a result, its shares rose 16.5p to 177.6p. The chief executive, Ralph Topping, said that “business volumes both in our shops and online since the beginning of the football season in mid-August have been good.”


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