William Hill Sales in Excellent Shape

Latest figures released by William Hill have shown that despite gloomy economic conditions, the betting giant has bucked the trend by seeing an increase in revenues across all its business sectors.

Strong growth in trading was seen in its retail arm, with earnings rising 24% and net revenues by 8% due to an increase in over the counter betting and a boost in gaming machine usage. This, combined with a strong demand for its online gambling site, has helped the group have an excellent first quarter.

This year's Grand National proved to be a winner for the group, when the favourite failed to win. This is in comparison to the Cheltenham Festival, which saw many favourites romp home to victory, resulting in many bookies witnessing a drop in revenue. Whilst Ladbrokes suffered from a £10.7 million drop in net revenue as a result of the Festival, William Hill maintained that although it wasn't the best Cheltenham they'd ever had, they still managed to enjoy some success. £2 million in profits from just two races is testament to that.

Ralph Topping, chief executive of William Hill, said: "We have seen excellent growth across our business in the first quarter, enabling us to remain confident in our expectations for the full year.
"It is particularly pleasing that, alongside a continuing strong performance from William Hill Online, we have seen growth in both net revenue and operating profit in retail."

William Hill initially advised caution at the beginning of the year as it was expected that in tough economic climes people would cut back on luxury spending, including betting. However, first quarter figures have shown the company's resilience to the recession