11th Nov 2014 09:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sportech PLC shares dropped heavily in early trade on Tuesday after the pool betting company issued a cautious trading statement, saying that while it does still expect to meet market expectations for the year, its revenue has been hit by weakness in the US racing industry.
Shares in the company dropped 7.3% to 51.00 pence in early trade, making it the worst performer in the FTSE All Share, after it said the performance of its Venues, Racing and Digital arms has been hit by a fall in the volumes wagered in Connecticut and across the US racing industry between August 22 and November 10.
It said that trading for its Football Pools unit remains in line and said it does expect adjusted pretax profit and earnings per share to be "within the range of market expectations", without specifying whether it would be at the high or low end of forecasts. It expects the results to be in line despite the revenue hit, due to a reduced net interest charge in the second half.
The company said US thoroughbred racing industry data showed the amounts wagered in the ten months to the end of October were down 2% year-on-year. In the period the company updated on, changes to the racing calendar further impacted the amounts wagered, down 10.5% in September, though this was slightly offset by a 2.7% rise in October.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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