Sports betting and gaming services provider William Hill Plc (WMH.L) reported Friday that its first-quarter pre-exceptional operating profit increased 8 percent on a 15 percent jump in revenues.
In its interim management statement for the 13 weeks ended April 2, the company said its group net revenue as well as retail net revenue were flattered by the transition from VAT and Amusement Machine Licence Duty to Machine Games Duty on February 1.
Adjusting the prior year from the date of introduction of MGD to reflect the current tax regime, Group net revenue grew 11 percent.
In the quarter, operating profit before items was benefited by good sporting results across all channels. Profit progression also benefited from good cost control. Pre-tax exceptional costs of about 10 million pounds were recorded in the period relating to the Sportingbet acquisition.
The company's online net revenue climbed 21 percent and operating profit rose 13 percent. Retail net revenue grew 8 percent, while operating profit was 3 percent lower than last year.
The company also noted that Sportsbook net revenue increased 47 percent, mobile sportsbook amounts wagered grew 145 percent, and mobile gaming net revenue grew 298 percent.
Related to the Sportingbet acquisition, the company continues to expect 16 million pounds of exceptional costs in total.
Chief Executive Ralph Topping said, "It has been a successful start to 2013 in trading terms, moving forward with our strategy, expanding into Australia and taking full control of William Hill Online. Operationally, performance remains good, with strong gross win margins a feature of the period in both Retail and Online. Having grown our UK online market share from 10 percent to 15 percent over the last four years, we aim to increase our share and are making significant investments in marketing, technology and people to achieve that."
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