William Hill PLC (WMH.L), a gambling company, reported Friday that its first-half profit before tax climbed 28 percent to 100.7 million pounds from 78.7 million pounds a year ago.
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The UK betting firm reported a 16% drop in operating profits to £131.1m, with turnover up 1% to £814.4m.
As well as offering odds through their website and smartphone apps, William Hill will also host a matchday betting service at Stamford Bridge, allowing fans to place bets at the stadium on the day of the game and collect winnings from any one of more than 2,000 shops across the United Kingdom – including at Fulham Broadway and on the King’s Road close to the stadium.
Highlighting the performance of its four core divisions, the company said that three of them performed quite well during this year’s first half.
Portugal celebrates winning Euro 2016, which was good for bookmakers. During the period in review, the company rolled out 800 proprietary self-service betting terminals across its outlets. In March, the operator issued a profit warning, saying that unfavorable results during the Cheltenham Festival and withdrawal of online gambling customers as a result from newly introduced regulations that allowed online players to limit their time and money spent online would impact full-year profit in quite a negative manner.
The company said it still expected to meet its guidance to deliver operating profit of 260-280 million pounds for year.
Alex O’Shaughnessy, chief marketing officer at William Hill, said: “Everton are one of the most iconic clubs in Britain and it’s great to be joining the Blues at this exciting point in their history”.
Profit before tax was £100.7m, up 28 per cent from £78.7m in the first half of a year ago, while operating profit plunged 16 per cent, from £155.7m to £131.1m.
William Hill said it wasn’t clear that a takeover would enhance its “strategic positioning or deliver superior value”.
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“Looking ahead, our immediate priorities are to continue the recovery in online, to leverage our technology improvements across the business and to advance a focused approach to global growth”.
