Sir Ian Robinson
Positioning Ladbrokes for the future
We have carefully gone about building the businesses in our
portfolio for the longer term - creating value across the Group.
Christopher Bell
A good performance in spite of the challenging economic environment
2008 has been a busy year for the Group. eGaming has
launched its range of initiatives to grow net gaming revenue
whilst in UK Retail we launched the OddsOn! customer loyalty
card and exercised strong cost control. We have also sought
to broaden the business outside the UK.
UK Retail
UK Retail gross win increased
by 4.7% over the period to
£773.9 million, with the amounts
staked increasing by 9.4%.
Other European Retail
Amounts staked grew in Other
European Retail by 65.7% during
the period. Total gross win
increased by 47.5% to £152.1
million (2007: £103.1 million).
Operating profit fell 5.1% to £20.6 million (2007: £21.7 million) with the start up losses in Italy outweighing the increase in
Ireland.
eGaming
eGaming continues to grow in
line with our expectations with
net revenue increasing by 20.0%
to £172.2 million, unique active
players up 20.8% to 726,000 and new customer sign-ups growing
by 21.5% in the year.
Telephone
Profit from High Rollers was
£80.1 million. Whilst down from last year's exceptional level, the
contribution from this business
segment remains very
significant and is testament to the Group's capability in
servicing these customers.
At a glance
Corporate Responsibility
We value our reputation for
fairness and integrity,
behaving responsibly
throughout all our operations. We also recognise the importance of
good employee relationships
and high levels of customer
satisfaction.
