Hill confirms Irish plans are on hold

BRITISH bookmaker, William Hill has reported a robust set of full-year results for 2008, and has reiterated that any expansion plans for its Irish operations are on hold.

The company — which also yesterday announced it had raised a further £588 million (€663.7m) to boost its existing bank facility funding to £838.5m — said that its gross wins (the amount it takes over the counter in losing punters’ bets) grew from £988.4m to £1.02 billion and net revenue was up from £933.6m to £963.7m.

However, operating profit was down slightly from £286.7m to £278.6m and earnings per share slipped from 47.4p to 45.4p.