William Hill full year profit to exceed expectations

William Hill (LON:WMH) said in a trading statement on Monday that it expects profits to be ahead of previous expectations.

Shares in the bookmaker were up during trading on Monday.

William Hill now expects full-year adjusted operating profit for 2019 from continuing operations to be in the range of £143 million to £148 million.

The business said that this was “driven by favourable sporting results through the year end”.

Its retail business, having executed a remodelling strategy, generated an operating profit above the guided range of £50-70 million, the company added.

William Hill said that online UK grew in line with the market for the third quarter in a row, whilst its US business continued to experience strong growth in the fourth quarter.

“The Group has delivered a strong operating performance, ahead of our expectations and against a challenging regulatory backdrop,” Ulrik Bengtsson, CEO, commented on the results.

“We made good progress on a number of fronts, including our Retail business, Online and in the US, enabling us to deliver on our long term strategic ambitions,” the CEO continued.

The CEO said: “We look forward to building on these efforts in 2020 with a strong focus on customer, team and execution.”

Shares in William Hill plc (LON:WMH) were up on Monday, trading at +0.87% as of 12:02 GMT.