Paddy Power saw strong growth last year and robust sporting results for the start of this year.
In a statement released prior to the company's AGM this morning, Paddy Power said there was an overall increase in underlying profit of 51 per cent to €45.5 million during 2006, and now expects operating profits of around €58 million this year.
This result would represent underlying operating profit growth of 27 per cent over 2006, or 8 per cent above the current consensus market forecast.
Overall sportsbook turnover has risen by 12 per cent in the first 20 weeks of this year as compared to the first 20 weeks of 2006.
"Sportsbook turnover for the period was up 10 per cent in the retail channel, down 2 per cent in the telephone channel and up 26 per cent in the online channel," said Paddy Power.
The company reported strong growth in its online operations, including online poker and bingo, and said it intends to expand its online betting this summer with paddypowertrader.com, an online financial spread betting business.