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Have football results helped William Hill?

With the attainment of Stanley Leisure’s 624 betting shops, there was a remarkable growth in the value of the shares of William Hill, the bookmaker, after floating at 225 p a share in June 2002.This enabled the group to position itself as the country’s biggest shop operator, beating its rival Ladbrokes-with over 2200 outlets. An amendment in the law, permitting Fixed Odds Betting Terminals-effectively casino games-into betting shops fostered performance. To add to this, the government’s replacement of betting duty with tax on the gross profits of bookmakers also facilitated the overall improvement. Nonetheless, apprehensions about the financial health of consumers going forward and the weight of debts built up by the company over the good times have been a matter of  concern over the last couple of years.

Football results normally help William Hill .The betting company lost a fifth of the money made from betting in shops as the beginning of the football season surprisingly witnessed a low number of draws and the league favourites Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal winning. The number of draws returned to stupendous standard since those teams began to stumble frequently.

The favourable results in the recent year placed the earnings of the year at the top end of analysts’ expectations. Shares in William Hill opened up 2.7 per cent at 190.6p.

The recent fourth quarter/full year trading update of the group as on 20 Jan 2010, indicates a sign of progress. The gross win margins for the year 2009 returned to the normal 17-18 percentage range and so the company enjoyed good trading through the remainder of the year. There was a rise in the group net revenue of about 6 percent compared with the strong trading period in 2008.

The total group net revenue for the full year is  currently expected to rise by approximately 4 percent compared with 2008,when the revenue amounted to ?963.7m.The management also expects the earnings before interest and tax to be around ?250m., down from last year’s ?278.6m but beating out market predictions in the ?230m-?250m range.

Though the earnings had remained on the back foot over the medium term and though the group had been initially slower than its competitors to embrace the trend of online business, William Hill Online delivered a strong performance over the final quarter, aiding revenues.

Towards the end of 2008,a deal was struck with Playtech as a result of which the online gaming software group bought a series of gaming assets, businesses and contracts These were sold to the bookmaker for $250m to create William Hill Online in return for a 29 percent stake in the business.

This business would deliver full-year earnings before interest and tax about 35 percent higher than a year ago, though on a pro forma basis it will be down 1 percent. There was a minority interest for Playtech of ?7.1m in the final quarter and ?20.1m in the full year.

The management has already acted towards the removal of the group from a dubious European (Spanish) joint venture.

The balance sheet has been strengthened and the dividend has been reintroduced

Steps are being taken to reduce tax paid by the online division by moving operations to Gibraltar.

It was also officially confirmed that the chairman Charles Scott is to step down by the end of this year. This 59 year old had been the former chairman of advertising groups Saatchi & Saatchi, Cordiant Communications and Robert Walters, the recruitment agency. He has been the director of the company since 1999 and successfully guided the group through its floatation in 2002.

The chairman assured that the business of William Hill is in excellent shape and that he plans to step down from office as soon as a suitable replacement has been found by the end of the year.