Ladbrokes opens in South Africa

The famous UK gambling group Ladbrokes has joined Victor Chandler in accessing the South Afrcian sports betting market.
The sports section of the South African morning newspaper The Times reported Thursday that the British bookeeper has partnered with local betting company KaiRo International in launching an online sportsbook. The two companies have apparently collaborated in Africa since 2002.
KaiRo md Mustafa Ko said the group has applied for a bookmaker licence in the Western Cape province and that this would allow Ladbrokes to increase its market share in the region.
In related news, Ladbrokes shareprice took a hit of 4.5 percent Thursday following the release of full year results that showed a drop of 28 percent in pre-tax profit.
Analysts attributed the poor performance to tough economic conditions, discontinued operations and punter-friendly results hitting margins in the third quarter.
The company revealed that 2009 pretax profit fell to GBP 191.3 million from GBP 265.6 million in 2008. Full-year net profit fell 63 percent to GBP 74.4 million from GBP 200.7 million in 2008, as a GBP 72 million charge from discontinued operations hurt the company’s bottom line.
Revenue fell 10 percent to GBP 1.032 billion.

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