888 and Rank end William Hill interest

888 Holdings and The Rank Group have ended their interest William Hill, stating yesterday afternoon that they no longer plan to table an official takeover offer for the operator.

In a joint-statement, the firms said because “it had not been possible to meaningfully engage with the board of William Hill” that they were ending their bid to merge the three operators but that they “respect” William Hill’s decision.

“We are disappointed that the board of William Hill did not share our vision of the combined businesses,” Itai Frieberger, 888 CEO, said.

“We believe that there was compelling industrial logic for the combination of these highly complementary businesses, which in our view would have brought scale, diversification, and strong revenue and cost synergies, from which all shareholders would have benefitted,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rank CEO Henry Birch, who was in line to head-up the enlarged firm, reiterated Frieberger’s belief that all shareholders would have benefitted from a deal and thanked 888 for its support.

William Hill, which had previously swatted away two takeover proposals from the two-operator consortium, said it would continue to focus on its online turnaround strategy.

“We note the Consortium’s confirmation that it no longer intends to make an offer for William Hill,” Gareth Davies, William Hill chairman, said.

“We will continue to focus our efforts on our strategy to deliver value for shareholders. The team has a clear plan to grow by diversifying digitally and internationally and four priorities to get us there.

“We have had a good start to the second half of the year and the Board now expects operating profit for 2016 to be at the top end of the previously guided £260-280m range,” he added.

The positive guidance update went down well in the City with William Hill’s share price this morning up 9% to 312p.

According to respondents of this week’s poll, 61% believe 888 and Rank should still merge despite the absence of William Hill.