Cork won the battle of the Harlequins in the women’s EY Hockey League as Darren Collins’ Farmers Cross outfit beat their Belfast counterparts 3-0 in Deramore Park to give a massive confidence boost to the new-look side.

Any meaningful recovery in Paddy Power-Betfair’s share price is going to take time, analysts have warned, after shares in the betting services group fell further on a 12% slump in first-quarter profit.

It wasn’t the GAA that coined the phrase ‘Super 8’ — they have the Club Players Association (CPA) to thank for that one. And it wasn’t the GAA that labelled April as club month. But if they aren’t going to fill vacuums others are going to do it for them.

UCD showed the sharper touches in the key exchanges to forge four points clear of Cork Harlequins with a 2-0 win over their nearest women’s EY Hockey League rivals at Farmer’s Cross.

Paddy Power-Betfair shares fell by nearly 4% as investors reacted badly to news of the departure of the head of its key Australian division.

The Dalata Hotel Group is targeting a 10%-15% share of the regional hotel market in the UK, writes Geoff Percival.

Shares in betting services group Paddy Power-Betfair dropped a further 4% yesterday after it posted first-half earnings which fell short of analyst expectations.

Paddy Power-Betfair has made what analysts have called a “modest” bet on the US market by acquiring New York-based specialist betting firm Draft for a potential total price of $48m (€44m).

The Dalata Hotel Group is expected to have increased its UK room capacity by 15% inside the next two-and-a-half years.

The Dalata Hotel Group has emerged as the likely new operator of the former Burlington Hotel in Dublin, four months after baulking at such a move.

Newly-merged betting services group Paddy Power-Betfair is expected to make higher cost savings, over the next three years, than the £50m (€58m) level suggested when the two companies merged earlier this year.

Ladbrokes is set to pay out £3m (€3.8m) to punters, if Leicester City win the English Premiership next month, and it has also attacked the conduct of rival betting firms, particularly as regards last month’s Cheltenham Festival.

Newly merged betting services giant Paddy Power-Betfair is expected to increase revenues by 16% this year, with growth of 10% and 8% anticipated in each of the following two years.

Online gambling company Betfair has continued its impressive growth in its latest financial update released ahead of its proposed merger with Paddy Power.

Aidan O’Brien tossed the toys, at least some of them, out of the cot in Tuesday’s Racing Post.

Paddy Power and Betfair hope to complete their planned merger during the first quarter of 2016, with shareholders likely to vote on the matter in December.

The growing sense of reality surrounding a merger between Paddy Power and Betfair will mean different things to different people.

Betfair is expected to continue returning sizeable amounts of cash to shareholders via special dividend payouts, over the coming years, after announcing a 70% increase in its latest annual dividend.

New Paddy Power chief executive Andy McCue has seen his base annual salary jump by nearly 30%, to €700,000, since taking over from Patrick Kennedy, at the helm of the betting services company earlier this year.

Paddy Power is expected to continue to return surplus cash to shareholders over the coming years — with the figure potentially reaching €800m.

 

Cork Church of Ireland 4 Bandon 1

Online gambling company, Betfair plans a cash return of £200 million (€253m) to shareholders and higher dividend payouts after posting a 51% rise in first-half earnings.

Bandon Grammar 5 St Clement’s College 17

Bandon Grammar 43 Naomh Áine Killaloe 0

Ladbrokes saw net revenues at its Irish operations rise by 1.1% in the third quarter when measured against the same period last year, despite Irish punters betting considerably less in its shops.

Analysts expect Ladbrokes to cut its annual dividend payment to shareholders next year, saying consensus forecasts for the group’s current financial year look "stretched".

Munster sides landed three national titles from a possible four over a memorable weekend at Belfield.

Shares in betting and gaming giant Paddy Power slumped 8% yesterday, on the back of the company saying it expects to see less than double digit percentage growth in operating profits for the first time in four years in 2013.

A man charged with the manslaughter of a father-of-one in Tallaght over the weekend has been given consent to bail.

A young man who has a previous conviction for manslaughter has been jailed for the violent hijacking of a taxi.

Paddy Power’s share price dropped yesterday following a positive set of results, with traders blaming the dip on profit taking.

Davy Stockbrokers has downgraded its rating on the Paddy Power stock, citing slow market growth in Italy, a declining customer base for its online operation, and potentially faltering returns in the UK retail segment.

Paddy Power’s long-term global growth strategy is dependant on how fast and in what manner governments open their territories to online gambling, says Davy Stockbrokers.

Anyone else blown away by the performance of Jim Bolger’s Trading Leather at Gowran Park last Sunday?

The sister of an armed post office raider recognised her brother during the robbery and identified him to gardaí, a court has heard.

BOOKMAKER Paddy Power raised its outlook for full-year earnings growth yesterday, highlighting the strong growth of its online and mobile services and sending its shares to a record high.

Actor Ryan O’Neal’s son Redmond was sent to jail in Southern California following a drugs arrest and hours later his brother was taken to hospital after a car crash.

IRISH and British bookmakers put a tough Cheltenham Festival behind them with last weekend’s sporting events — most notably the Grand National — going in their favour.

THE largest number of winning favourites for almost a decade at the Cheltenham Festival has hit bookmakers hard, with the industry taking an estimated hit of somewhere between €4 million and €10m.

A Clare resident who defrauded a company out of goods valued at nearly €5,000 while wearing a shirt saying “Trust Me” has been given a two year sentence with the balance suspended from today.