Winning streak hits William Hill

Bookmaker William Hill today said profits would be at the lower end of hopes after punters enjoyed a run of success in the second half of last year.

The company, which has 1,600 outlets, joined rivals Ladbrokes and Stanley Leisure in reporting a string of unfavourable sporting results, particularly in horse racing and games involving football clubs Chelsea and Manchester United.

The performance in the second half offset a stronger start to the year, when bookmakers benefited from the success of Greece in Euro 2004.

In a trading update, William Hill said it expected underlying profits for the year to December 28 to be in the region of £232m (€332.4m), compared with £201.7m (€289m) a year earlier.

City forecasts for the period ranged between £230m (€329.5m) and £245m (€351m).

The company said: “Performance in the second half of 2004 has been adversely affected by less favourable horseracing results and significantly poorer results in respect of domestic and international football since the start of the current season.

“This trend, which is consistent with normal variations in sporting results, continued to prevail in the closing weeks of the year.”

William Hill said the growth of random number-based betting through mediums such as fixed odds betting terminals and online gambling meant the outcome of sporting results was having a smaller impact on its revenues.

It added that it remained in good shape operationally with costs under control and major investment programmes in place for 2005. The company will provide further details on its performance at full year results on March 2.

Last week, Stanley Leisure said racing results had been poor at a time when Premiership favourites Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea were enjoying winning runs. It now expects to match the previous year’s profits haul of £41.8m (€59.9m) after also being hit by a winning streak from a “major player” at one of its casinos.

Shares in William Hill were down 2% today.