Paddy Power sympathises with John Cleese as profits fall 20%

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said it intended to restart its buyback programme as it reported a 20% fall on pre-tax profit for first half of the year.The company's pre-tax profit fell to €61.6m (£49.02m) due to a run of unfavourable sports results as the "public had a field day". In January and March, 16 and 17 teams of the 21 most backed won their matches on separate weekends, while favourites in UK and Irish racing won 37% of the races in the period, resulting in a gross win of 9.1% for the bookmaker, 1% lower than it had estimated.With tongue firmly in cheek, company said this proved "costlier than John Cleese's divorce payments", referring to the Monty Python comedian's famously 2008 divorce.Patrick Kennedy, the group chief executive, remained positive about the company's results, despite the punter-friendly market."We acquired more new sports-book customers on paddypower.com in these six months than in all of 2013," he said in a statement. "We had a cracking World Cup which generated stakes of almost €200m, 130% ahead of the previous tournament. Australia continues to power ahead and Italy has made significant progress. "The second half has started well with good stakes growth and a rebound in sports results. At this juncture, we expect mid-teen percentage growth in EPS for the full year, despite an €11m headwind from product fees, new taxes and currency translation."Paddy Power saw its revenue increase to €396.5m from €380.6m in the same period in 2013 and it increased its interim dividend share by 11%.Despite a €11m headwind from product fees, currency translation and new taxes the company expects mid-teen percentage growth in earnings per share for the full year and it announced its intention to recommence share buybacks.Paddy Power shares were down 1.03% to €48.99 at 10:21 on Thursday.DC