LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - British bookmaker Ladbrokes reported a better-than-expected 34 percent rise infirst-half operating profit on Thursday, helped by somebookmaker-friendly sporting results.
The company, whose 2.3 billion pound ($3 billion) mergerwith rival Coral was approved last month, posted group operatingprofit of 52.3 million pounds for the six months to end-June onrevenue 13 percent higher at 661.8 million pounds.
Analysts at UBS were expecting first-half operating profitto come in at 49 million pounds, while Goodbody estimated 42million pounds.
($1 = 0.7517 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Mark Potter)