Bookies’ profits down 15%

Ian Guider

Accounts just filed by the company, which is the subject of a takeover bid in Britain, show profits before interest and tax fell from E2.6 million to just over E2.2m in the year to May 2, 2004.

Turnover for the year shot up by nearly 30% to E111.2m, the accounts show. The amount paid out to winning customers increased from 84.1m to 108.8m, eroding Stanley's gross win margin by around 1% and indicating that punters got the best of the bookies over the period.

Despite rising turnover, the company has suffered in Ireland in recent years, with profits falling for two years in a row. Stanley has attempted to rebuild its market share by rebranding the shops as StanleyBet.

The company also decided to absorb the betting levy for its customers across its 51 outlets, a decision which forced rival chains to do the same. According to the Stanley accounts, it paid E3.4m in betting taxes last year, a E900,000 increase.

The company employs 256 people across its 51 outlets in the Republic.

It emerged at the weekend that parent company Stanley Leisure had been approached by rival William Hill to sell its 600 betting shops in Britain and Ireland.

According to some reports, Stanley's betting shops could fetch up to 1 billion and that another chain, Coral, is also interested in the portfolio.

If William Hill the largest British betting chain secures Stanleys, it would be the company's first move into the Irish gaming market. Stanley's are the fourth largest bookmakers in Ireland, behind Paddy Power, Boylesports and Ladbrokes.