LONDON (Alliance News) - Ladbrokes PLC on Thursday reported growth in group net revenue in the first quarter of 2016, despite the period including the "worst" Cheltenham horse racing festival "in living memory", and said its merger with Gala Coral Group Ltd is on track.
The bookmaker said group net revenue in the three months ended March 31 grew by 11% year-on-year. UK retail net revenue rose by 4.1% driven by good football staking growth, European retail net revenue was up 6.5%, and digital net revenue increased by 37% driven by strong growth in sportsbook and gaming.
Ladbrokes added that it continues to work with the UK Competition and Markets Authority and "remains confident" on the case for its merger with Gala Coral.
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral agreed the merger in July. It will create a company, to be called Ladbrokes Coral PLC, with a market capitalisation of around GBP2.1 billion and the largest bookie retail estate in the UK.
"Since July 2015 we have been successfully implementing our strategic plan and the encouraging customer metrics we saw at the end of the year have continued during the first quarter of 2016. While results have generally been favourable, Cheltenham proved to be the worst in living memory which took some of the shine off the period. While we see plenty of evidence to support that our plan is working, our focus remains on delivering against our strategy and our 2017 targets," Chief Executive Jim Mullen said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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