Betfair stronger than expected results

Regardless of challenges in regulatory environments and a series of middle management and high profile staff departures, the company has posted strong profitability and record revenue for the period.
The company’s outlook for the first eight weeks and beyond of its current fiscal year are positive with “many of the new products expected to drive future growth launching in the second half of the year.”
Key Performance Indicators for the 12 month period ending 30 April 2011 include:
–  Group revenue up by 8.1 percent of GBP 368.6 Million (FY10: GBP 340.9 Million)
–  Profit after tax of GBP 35.1 Million (FY10: GBP 22.7 Million) reflecting an increase of 54.4 percent)
–  Basic earnings per share up 56.2 percent to 33.9p from 21.7p in 2010.
–  Core Betfair revenue growth of 7.8 percent to GBP 330 million
–  Core Betfair adjusted EBITDA up 29 percent to GBP 80.2 million
–  Maiden final dividend of 5.9 pence per share declared
–  Cash position at 30 April 2011 of GBP 155.0 million with no debt (FY10: GBP 150.9 million)
–  Customer funds held on deposit at 30 April 2011 of GBP 305.6 million (FY10: GBP 284.0
–   Record year for site activity with the number of bets matched increasing 20 percent to 916 million
–  Strong performance in Sports driven by growth of 24 percent in football revenues.
–  Over the year, revenue from football generated 42.3 percent of Sports revenues, horseracing 42.1 percent.
–  Strong growth in Mobile saw revenue grow by 88 percent to GBP 11.5 million, accounting for 5 percent of total Sports revenue.
–  Decline in Poker revenue by 14 percent compared to the previous year, now representing 7 percent of Core Betfair.
–  Games revenue grew by 9 percent over the year, up from 1 percent in the previous year.
Commenting on the results, David Yu, Betfair’s Chief Executive Officer, said:
“The past 12 months have seen significant change at Betfair as the business continued to grow and made the transition to being a public company. A huge amount has been achieved during the period and I’m delighted that we have more customers than ever resulting in a record number of bets placed and that we’ve reported record revenue and profitability.
“Despite these successes, revenue growth during FY11 could have been stronger but we have delivered a significant improvement in margin resulting in profitability for the year above expectations.
“We look to next year with confidence as we execute a strategy that we believe will cement our position as the leading online sports betting operator.”

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