LONDON (Alliance News) - Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC on Wednesday said it expects profit in 2016 to increase in line with market consensus and management expectations, despite seeing poor sporting results in the second half of December.
Betting giant Ladbrokes, which last year bought rival Gala Coral, said proforma group operating profit will be in the range of GBP275 million and GBP285 million in 2016, comprising GBP101 million at Ladbrokes and GBP179 million at Coral.
This compares to a proforma group operating profit of GBP235 million in 2015, comprising GBP80.6 million at Ladbrokes and GBP154 million at Coral.
Ladbrokes said the fourth quarter of the year saw continued growth in the digital business, where net revenue rose by 18% despite poor sporting results in the UK.
UK retail net revenue, however, declined by 4% in the fourth quarter year-on-year, due to over-the-counter margin of 16.5% being two percentage points behind expectations and like-for-like OTC stakes falling by 5%.
"The last quarter of 2016 was one of significant activity with the completion of the merger, good progress on integration along with the necessary shop disposals and a busy sporting schedule. While the sporting gods did not look favourably on us in the period, it is pleasing to report that the business continued to perform well and that our full year numbers will be in-line with expectations," Chief Executive Jim Mullen said in a statement.
"We remain confident in our plans for 2017 and on delivering the opportunities identified in the merger," he added.
Ladbrokes will release its full-year results on March 28.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com; @KarolinaAllNews
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