Posts Tagged william hill
William Hill to move to Gibraltar
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on August 4th, 2009
As discussed by Scott , Will Hill have confirmed this morning that they are going to move their business to Gib. Full press release available by clicking this text.
With the government keen for tax revenue and the horse racing industry desperate for levy revenue this is a bitter blow. But also, this is likely to trigger a move by competitors to follow suit. At the end of the day if some people are paying less tax and levy, gaining a competitive advantage, then management should act. I think this is why others will now follow suit, most have businesses already set up to do the same.
Incidentally, we have paid a bundle of tax in our time to HM Revenue services. But we note that other people in the same area are not doing so. At the end of the day, while nobody likes paying tax, it is an important part of the fabric of society and I believe everybody should pay their dues. I think that in an increasingly globalised world with low barriers thanks to tele-communciations this is a challenge for regional governments.
William hill closes shops
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on February 22nd, 2009
According to the Irish Times, William Hill confirmed it will shut down 14 shops affecting 53 jobs in Ireland due to the economic downturn.
The paper said that outlets in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Wexford and Waterford would soon close.
On Tuesday, MarketWatch reported that Goldman Sachs cut the bookmaker from buy to neutral because “the business is resilient but not immune to the wider economic environment.”
William hill results
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on September 1st, 2008
You can view the results by clicking here.
In a nutshell gross win was up to almost £500m and net profit was around £150m. Betfair’s net profit is around £20m but in reality, if you strip out exceptional items, it is probably a far bit higher. This means Will Hill’s net margin is around 30% vs 10% for Betfair, this is a little suprising given the nature of Betfair’s business, you would expect Betfair to have higher net margin. It could be that investment is dulling true margin at Betfair and delivering lower margins. One of the interesting thing about sports books is that the core business of betting on sports is not a driver behind growth. It will be interesting to see if Betfair release any stats on their breakdown of business when they next report, it should make interesting reading. As Betfair’s business matures it is almost inevitable that they will chase margin, where that margin comes from is another question.