World cup: Third Quarter 2014, had being stong in profit - William Hill

The bookmaker said its operating profit for the full year would be at the bottom end of the range of analysts' forecasts of £290.9m and £312.1m.

 

The warning came with results for the three months to the end of September.

Operating profits came in 39% below the same period last year. William Hill said the third quarter of 2014 had been particularly strong as a result of the World Cup.

It added that it was having to pay an extra £23m in gambling duties this year.

"The quarter also featured weaker than expected sporting results," said chief executive James Henderson, referring back to a "strong gross win margin" in the third quarter of 2014.

"Whilst good operating cost discipline has partially offset the weaker than expected results and non-core market impacts, the board now expects full-year operating profit to be around the bottom of the analyst consensus range."

Simon French, an analyst at Cenkos wrote: "Performance was weaker than our expectations across the board impacted by weaker gross win margin than we had anticipated,"