Paddy Power online revenues up 7%
Irish bookmaker able to offset unfavourable sports betting results with strong growth in Australia-facing Sportsbet business
Paddy Power saw a 7% uptick in online net revenue during the past five months after strong growth from its Australian business helped offset unfavourable sports betting results.
According to an interim management statement released this morning, online sportsbook revenue from the operator’s core UK and Irish business was down 12% for the period 1 July to 15 November, despite a 16% rise in amounts staked.
On a constant currency basis, those numbers were down 17% and up 8% respectively.
“As expected, year-on-year growth was impacted by the very favourable sports results and the World Cup within the comparative period, and total net revenue was down 9%,” the operator said.
However, while gaming/B2B revenues were up 13% YoY (+6% on constant currency), it was Paddys’ Australia-facing Sportsbet business that was the real driver of growth with online stakes up 33% and net revenues up 23% during the period.
On a constant currency basis, stakes were up 43% and revenues up 32% respectively, with growth driven in part by the launch of its new Punters Club offering, the company said.
In Italy, Paddy Power said its strategic plans to position the business for long-term growth and profitability “remain on track” with revenues up 3% due to strong growth in egaming.
“Costs continue to be tightly managed as we implement the operational improvements required to ensure sustainable revenue growth,” the operator said.
Group revenues, which include its retail business, were up 9% YoY (6% on constant currency) with sportsbook stakes up 21% (19% CC) and net revenue up 7% (5% CC).
The operator also provided an update on its proposed merger with Betfair, and said the relevant filings had been submitted to regulators and that it expects to publish shareholder documentation in the coming weeks.
Paddy Power’s share price was up 1% to 113.62 at the time of writing.