Betfair Posts First Half Results

Online betting exchange Betfair has released its first half financial results for the period ending on October 31st, showing strong profits up 43% from the same period last year.

Betfair CEO David Yu commented on his company's performance in the report saying:

“I am pleased with our performance in the first half of the year, with record revenues and profits. After a solid first quarter, we delivered a strong second quarter with Core Betfair revenues up 12%. These results were driven by an excellent Exchange performance following a very positive start to the football season and improved monetisation of activity.

“Mobile betting has continued to grow strongly in the first half, with double the number of mobile bets placed compared to the same period last year. We have continued to make progress in the third quarter, with 41% of UK Exchange customers placing a mobile bet in November, driving mobile revenue to around 9% of Exchange revenue.

"We are continuing to focus our investment in the product and will shortly be introducing mobile gaming as well as further updates to our existing mobile sports betting applications, leaving us well placed to deliver further growth from this important channel.

“We have maintained our positive momentum in the third quarter, with Core Betfair revenue up 13% against the prior year. Whilst the economic environment remains uncertain, we expect to make further progress in the second half and remain comfortable with the outlook for the financial year."

Key financial highlights for the first half were:

• Revenue of £170.3 million, with 12% year-on year growth in Q2

• Adjusted EBITDA up 26% to £44.6 million

• Earnings per share up 43% to 19.5 pence. Interim dividend proposed of 3.2p pence per share

• £23.7 million returned year to date via share buyback

Operational highlights milestones were:

• Q2 non-risk revenue up 20% year-on-year

• 16.2 million bets via mobile devices (up 103%) and £9.1 million of revenue (up 88%) in H1

• Core Betfair revenue up 13% in Q3 to date

• A new Betfair website is set to launched in the near future, which is set to deliver increased reliability, speed and search functionality

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