Punters put a dent into Ladbrokes

PAYOUTS to punters on events such as Royal Ascot and the early stages of the European football championships led to a £28 million (€35.5m) drop in first-half profits at British betting retailer Ladbrokes but profits at its Irish operations saw a 24% year-on-year rise.

Overall group pre-tax profit for the first six months of the year amounted to £126.7m, down from £154.4m for the same stage last year.

Operating profit — including a £40m contribution from “high roller” punters — amounted to £170m, down from £192.7m in the first half of 2007.

Gross wins — the money it keeps from losing over the counter bets — rose from £611.5m in the first half of last year to £648.3m for the first six months of this year.

A slowdown in betting activity from high roller punters also ate into profits.

On the other hand, acquisitions — including the Northern Irish chains of Eastwood’s and McCartan’s — boosted Ladbrokes’ Irish profits by 24% to £15.5m (€19.6m). Its gross wins in Ireland grew, on a year-on-year basis, by 45.1% to £47.6m (€60.4m).

The company now operates 206 shops in the Republic and 76 north of the border.

While overall group growth will mainly be organically driven, the business said it is still on the lookout for further acquisition opportunities on the island of Ireland, even though it has not identified any specific further targets as yet.

Group chief executive, Christopher Bell, said yesterday the business has shown resilience against a challenging economic backdrop and “remains on track to meet full-year expectations”.