17th Jun 2015 06:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Betfair Group PLC Wednesday reported growth in pretax profit in its recently-ended financial year as a rise in customer numbers led to double-digit sales growth in all three of its divisions.
The FTSE 250 gaming company reported a pretax profit of GBP101.2 million in the year to April 30 from GBP61.1 million the year before, as revenue rose 21% to GBP476.5 million from GBP393.6 million.
Betfair said revenue growth was driven by a 52% increase in the number of active customers to 1.7 million from 1.1 million, with Sports, Gaming and Betfair US each achieving double-digit growth.
Sports revenue was up 17% to GBP328 million from GBP280.5 million, boosted by the World Cup, Cheltenham and Aintree festivals. Gaming revenue increased 34% to GBP88.5 million from GBP66.2 million, driven by the rise in number of Sports customers and cross-selling of Gaming products to those customers. Betfair US revenue rose 29% to GBP58.8 million from GBP45.7 million, mainly driven by its horseracing television network TVG.
Betfair will pay a dividend of 34.0p, a 70% increase on the 20.0p paid the prior year.
"The market remains highly competitive and, despite the introduction of the UK point of consumption tax, operators are still spending heavily on marketing and promotions. We continue to believe that scale is critical and we have opportunities to invest for profitable growth. We have momentum, current trading is good and we are confident we can deliver our expectations for the coming financial year," the company said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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