Bookmaker Paddy Power said this morning operating profit will top analysts' estimates this year after sporting results went in its favour.
The bookmaker expects operating profit of about €82 million ($127 million) this year, up 14 per cent on last year and 8 per cent above the consensus analyst estimate.
Gross win, or the amount left behind by customers, beat its forecast in the 20 weeks to May 13th, the Dublin-based company said today in a statement.
Paddy Power rose as much as 6.8 percent, the most since January 23rd, in Dublin trading. The bookmaker has added German - and Spanish-language online sports betting to boost sales at its Internet gambling unit. Paddy Power set a goal in March of more than doubling its UK betting-shop network in the next three years after the outlets became profitable in 2007.
Paddy Power climbed as much as €1.58 to €25. The stock was up 4.6 per cent at €24.50 at 9.15am local time.
"Favorable sporting results and top-line growth have more than offset adverse foreign-exchange movements, resulting in gross win ahead of expectations,'' Chairman Fintan Drury said in the statement.
Mr Drury also said he will step down at the end of this year and be succeeded by director Nigel Northridge.
The company was created in 1988 when three bookmakers merged and expanded beyond Ireland in 2000, when it first bought a UK outlet. More than half of sales come from shop customers, about a third from Web wagers and the rest from telephone bets.
Paddy Power said in March it plans to open betting shops this year in London, the northern English city of Manchester and Glasgow in Scotland. The company had 178 Irish outlets at the end of last year and 58 in the UK
The bookmaker, which is guaranteeing a €3 million-euro prize pool for this year's Irish Open poker tournament, made today's announcement as its annual shareholder meeting takes place.
Bloomberg