William Hill's World Cup lift but stumbles at Ascot

William Hill yesterday said the World Cup was one of the best for bookmakers in 40 years after the tournament helped drive a 7 per cent hike in half-year sales at its betting shops.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Jul 2010, 22:15 BST

Updated 20th Jul 2010, 22:16 BST

While the group enjoyed a "very strong" World Cup performance across its retail estate in June, this was offset by its worst ever Royal Ascot.

It suffered losses on the horseracing event, which followed a weak Grand National for the group in April, leaving betting shop operating profits around 8 per cent lower in the first half of the year.

Ralph Topping, chief executive of William Hill, said: "Whilst it was our worst ever Royal Ascot, with a loss on the meeting, the World Cup proved to be one of the best for bookmakers in 40 years. Overall, we have seen a good group performance in the period."

The group is expecting to hold overall underlying earnings firm in the half-year at around 135m, up marginally on the 134.6m seen a year earlier.

Grand National