Hills sees Australia as "second home"
Progress being made in product and marketing with new websites and ad campaign ready for launch
William Hill is positioning Australia as its “second home” with significant investment in new websites and marketing campaigns for its recently acquired local brands.
Following today’s announcement of its full-year results, the operator said it was Australia where it sees the most potential for international growth, despite recent exapnsion in the Italian and Spanish markets.
The company has invested heavily into the Australian market in the past year, starting with the purchases of Sportingbet “ including Centrebet “ and TomWaterhouse.com for a combined fee of around £450m.
The move propelled Hills into the top three market leaders behind Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet and Tabcorp, and represents a key part of its plans to attract 35-40% of total revenues from international markets by the end of 2017.
Online and Australia activities “ which amounted to £86.7m in net revenue and £12m in profit “accounted for around half of Hills’ operating profit, with international markets contributing 15% of net revenue in 2013.
Integration of its new Australian businesses is ongoing, including the migrating TomWaterhouse.com onto the William Hill platform, however the firm is bullish about the short-term potential.
Addressing analysts on a call this morning, CEO Ralph Topping also unveiled a new ad campaign for Sportingbet Australia featuring cricket legend Shane Warne which is to be launched in conjunction with a new site across mobile and desktop.
A new TomWaterhouse.com site is also due for launch in March, putting an end to early speculation that Hills planned to scrap the brand in favour of its core William Hill name.
“As expected, we have achieved a significant reduction in cost per acquisition to £299 in our ownership period as we have improved the effectiveness of the marketing spend,” it said in a statement.
“In the Sportingbet business, we have stabilised the unique actives performance, in part through a successfully refocused retention and reactivation programme, and expect to drive growth in new accounts through the ongoing improvement plan.”
Topping added that revenues from mobile sports betting in Australia were accelerating rapidly, with mobile accounting for 33% of amounts wagered in 2013. Hills estimates it now has 22% of mobile wagering market share in Australia.
In other news:
– Hills posts double-digit hike in full-year online revenue