William Hill finds the going tough

The group – along with the overall gaming industry – endured a difficult summer when Premier League football matches yielded few draws as well as plenty of victories for favoured teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea.

Margins recovered in the final three months of last year and Hill's online operation delivered a strong performance – pushing revenues 4 per cent higher for the year as a whole to 997.9m. Pre-tax profits were 197.5m.

The company, which has 2,324 betting shops, said its core retail business delivered a robust performance after an 8 per cent decline in amounts wagered and a 12 per cent drop in over-the-counter revenues when accounting for winning bets.

The company's retail estate enjoyed greater success with its gaming machines after gross win per machine increased by 6 per cent to 758 a week.

It is currently rolling out new terminals, which will be in the majority of shops by the end of March and feature high definition, 22-inch dual screens.

Although the severe weather led to fixture cancellations in January, it said this was broadly in line with the number of weather-related cancellations in the first two months of 2009.

The company is now gearing up for the World Cup, which generated more than 5m in additional over-the-counter revenues during 2006.