William Hill on track to meet expectations as high street struggles continue

William Hill remain "on track" to meet expectations for the year as the crackdown on FOBTs continues to weigh down the bookmaker's high street business.

The bookmaker's net revenue grew one per cent in the period from July 3 to October 29 during which William Hill closed around 700 betting shops.

In retail like-for-like net revenue fell by 16 per cent, while online net revenue grew by 26 per cent with the inclusion of online gaming operator Mr Green.

In the United States net revenue increased 60 per cent as the burgeoning sports betting market continued its growth and the bookmaker went live in the states of Indiana and Iowa.

Chief executive Ulrik Bengtsson, presenting his first trading update since taking over the role, said: "During my first months as CEO I have been focused on how we can improve our competitiveness while ensuring we continue to deliver on our strategic ambitions and I'm pleased to confirm we remain on track to meet our full year expectations."

In online William Hill said the UK division had shown growth for the second quarter in a row, while the integration of online gaming group Mr Green was "well under way".

However, online international net revenue fell four per cent due to their exit from the Swiss market and disruption to payment methods in other European markets.

In betting shops gaming net revenue fell by 39 per cent following the imposition of the £2 maximum stake for FOBTs, but that was offset by sportsbook net revenue rising by 13 per cent as the company "continued to see some customers substitute sports betting for gaming activities".

In the US Hills are preparing to bring the existing Caesars sports books into their network in anticipation of Eldorado Resorts closing the acquisition of Caesars Entertainment.

William Hill chief executive Ulrik Bengtsson

Bengtsson added: "In the US our business has gone from strength to strength. We have excellent market access, a valuable partnership with Eldorado and we're excited about the potential that is presented by the combination with Caesars.

"We have remodelled the UK retail estate, while the UK online business has benefited from a series of customer facing improvements evidenced in the stabilising market share in the last two quarters. In addition, we expect our international online business to benefit from a number of important product improvements that will be delivered over the coming quarters.

"We undoubtedly have great people and a shared vision at William Hill. Our job now is to push on and do even better in terms of customer focus and execution."

Analysts at Goodbody described the news from William Hill as "a mixed update which contains a few positives and negatives".

They added: "On the positives, the US is performing strongly...retail is in line with guidance and UK online is delivering growth broadly in line with the market. The negative is the weakness in the group’s international online division."

William Hill's share price ended up 2.7p at 181.8pon on Thursday.

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