Paddy Power Betfair Plc reports strong Q1 growth

A report from Paddy Power Betfair Plc for Q1 2017 has recorded 23% revenue increase and a key growth driven by sports for the company.

Paddy Power Betfair plc has announced a trading update for the three month period ended 31 March 2017 with key growth driven by sports in Q1 2017.

• Revenue up 23% to £416m (up 15% in constant currency, “cc”2)
• Growth driven by sports, with sportsbook stakes up 18% (cc +9%) and margins up 1.3ppts
• Underlying EBITDA up 87% to £111m and underlying operating profit up 114% to £91m (cc +117%)

Breon Corcoran, Chief Executive, commented: “Reversing the trend of the past two years, results at Cheltenham 2017 favoured bookmakers and this contributed to good revenue growth. Combined with the annualisation of merger-related cost savings and continued focus on operating efficiency, this resulted in a doubling of operating profits in the first quarter.

“Since then, however, at high profile events such as the Grand National, Premier League football and the US Masters, results favoured customers, and overall gross win margins were weak in April.

“A key strategic focus for 2017 is the integration of our technology platforms. This project is on track and we expect both our European brands to be operating on a common platform by the end of the year, at which point customers will start to benefit from increased pace of new product delivery.”

The Group will host a conference call for institutional investors and analysts and a replay of the call will be available after the call on the company’s corporate website: https://www.paddypowerbetfair.com/investor-relations/results-centre/2017.

To read the full Q1 2017 report, visit: https://www.paddypowerbetfair.com/~/media/Files/P/Paddy-Power-Betfair/documents/q1-2017-trading-update.pdf