Online division still helping William Hill

British online and land-based gaming giant William Hill has released a trading update on its performance for the first half of 2010 showing that net revenues are expected to have increased approximately three percent over the same period of last year.

William Hill stated that it would officially announce its interim results for the first half of 2010 on August 26 while revealing that unaudited pre-exceptional earnings before interest, tax and amortisation are expected to be around £135 million, which is up slightly from the £134.6 million reported for the first six months of 2009.

The London-based firm announced that its William Hill Online division had performed ‘strongly’ over the half posting a 24 percent increase in net revenues while operating profits rose approximately 43 percent compared with the same period last year. This was underpinned by the strong performance of its sportsbook, which saw a doubling of in-play betting with turnover up 59 percent year-on-year.

“In addition to outstanding top-line growth, gross win margin on the sportsbook was 7.7 percent, up from 6.8 percent in the first half of 2009,” read the update from William Hill.

“This resulted in a minority interest for Playtech of £6.3 million in the second quarter and £12.9 million in the year to date. As announced in May, William Hill Online has ceased accepting online business from clients resident in France.”

“While it was our worst ever Royal Ascot with a loss on the meeting, the World Cup proved to be one of the best for bookmakers in 40 years,” said Ralph Topping, Chief Executive Officer for William Hill.

“Overall, we have seen a good group performance in the period with a particularly strong contribution from William Hill Online.”