(Adds details, CEO comment)
Feb 26 (Reuters) - William Hill posted annual profit
at the top end of the company’s expectations on Wednesday as a
recent round of favourable sporting results boosted results at
the end of a year hit by the closure of hundreds of its high
street bookmakers.
The company, which closed 713 shops last year in a dramatic
shift towards online betting, said adjusted operating profit
fell 37% to 147 million pounds ($191 million), compared to
guidance of between 143 million pounds to 148 million pounds.
It also sounded an optimistic note on its push into U.S.
sports betting markets, following the signing earlier this month
of an online deal with CBS Sports.
Brokers said they expected shares in the company to tick
higher at opening.
"We move into 2020 in a stronger position," Chief Executive
Officer Ulrik Bengtsson said. "Almost a quarter of revenue is
now generated outside the UK compared to 15% in 2018."
With proposed regulatory curbs posing a challenge at home,
British betting companies have been pivoting to the United
States after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on
sports betting.
U.S. net revenue for the company, which currently operates
in 11 U.S. states, increased 38% for the year ended Dec. 31. It
said it expects to launch in up to eight new states as it aims
for the business to break even in 2020.
($1 = 0.7696 pounds)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick
Graham)
