Today, the UK-based online betting operator Paddy Power Betfair revealed its post close trading update for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, which ended on December 31st, 2016 as well as for the whole fiscal year ended at the same date.
The company, which was formed in 2016, after the two betting operators Paddy Power and Betfair joined forces to form one of the betting giants in the country, announced that its group revenue registered a 18% increase year on year over the fiscal 2016, reaching £1,551 million. In addition, Paddy Power Betfair revealed that the expected annual group underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would most likely be around the mid-point of the initially projected range from £390 million to £405 million, despite the gross win margins at the last two months of the year were worse than expected.
The combined betting operator revealed that its sports betting division managed to generate further growth, with customer-friendly results. Over the fourth fiscal quarter, the reported sportsbook stakes of the Group increased by 28% and reached £2,666 million in comparison to a year ago, when they amounted to £2,091 million. The net revenue of the company’s sportsbook unit registered an increase of 8.1% in the reported period.
When it comes to the sports book stakes of the combined company for the full year 2016, there was a 24% increase, which took the sportsbook stakes to £9,890 million in comparison to £7,999 million generated a year earlier. The net revenue for the full-year period increased by 8.7%.
In addition, the sports revenue of Paddy Power Betfair generated a 12% increase from £268 million in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2015 to £299 million over the last three months of 2016. The gaming revenue of the Group rose by 6% from £84 million to £89 million, taking the total revenue of the company in the quarter ended on December 31st, 2016 to £378 million.
As far as the performance of the company’s online unit is concerned, its revenue generated over the fourth fiscal quarter dropped by 3% year on year, due to the unfavourable sports results and gaming. However, Paddy Power Betfair gladly shared that its Sportsbet division in Australia performed well over the period, generating stakes growth estimated to 25%. The revenue growth of the company’s Australian division amounted to 18% and helped the operator partly neutralise the poor gross win margins in its European divisions.
- Author
Olivia Cole
