Today, the casino, betting and gambling giant Ladbrokes Coral published a trading statement, saying that the Group’s annual operating profit is expected to correspond to the initial outlook, in spite of the company’s performance was hurt by poor sporting results in December 2016.
The Chief Executive Officer of the combined entity Jim Mullen commented on Ladbrokes Coral announcement, describing the last fiscal quarter of 2016 as three months full of important activities and changes. He highlighted the merger completion, along with the betting outlets disposals, the successful integration progress and busy sporting schedule as the major factors that influenced on the company’s performance and overall results.
Mr. Mullen also said that despite the fact that the sporting results of the Group at the end of the period had not been favourable to the company, the business had continued to perform well, so that the annual results would be in line with the initial forecasts.
The trading statement of Ladbrokes Coral Group for the unaudited year ended on December 31st 2016 showed encouraging results that hint of further progress and satisfactory performance.
As revealed by the company, its proforma Group operating profit for the full year is expected to be in the range from £275 million to £285 million, including the operating profits of Ladbrokes and Coral Group. The Group also shared that the standalone operating profit of Ladbrokes would amount to approximately £101 million, while the operating profit of the Coral Group division would be about £179 million. This result corresponds to the average of analysts’ estimates for Ladbrokes and also in line with management expectations for the Coral Group.
As mentioned above, both Ladbrokes and Coral Group businesses were seriously affected by the poor sporting results in the second half of December 2016.
The combined entity also revealed that its Digital operations generated continuous increase over the fourth fiscal quarter from October 1st to December 31st, 2016. The division’s net revenue increased by 18%. The net revenue of Ladbrokes.com improved by 17% in comparison to its performance a year earlier. The net revenue generated by Coral.co.uk also registered growth of 13%. The Australian division of the company posted a massive 45% net revenue growth.
On the other hand, Ladbrokes Coral Group revealed that the net revenue of its domestic Retail operation saw a 4% decline in comparison to its performance in 2015. However, the multi-channel sign-ups in both the Ladbrokes and Coral brands remained strong over the period, with more than 140,000 users registering to Connect and the Grid.
According to Mr. Mullen, the performance of the Group over the year, and more specifically over the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, was an encouraging start for the combined entity.
The two companies managed to complete their long-awaited merger at the beginning of November, after the UK regulatory authorities gave them the green light for the deal. The process was marked by a lot of regulatory requirements to be met, but the two companies proved they were devoted to the deal and made it happen, after disposing of a massive number of betting outlets across the UK retail market.
- Author
Olivia Cole
