Ladbrokes Reports £43.2m Annual Pre-Tax Loss

Ladbrokes (LSE: LAD.L - news) has swung to a pre-tax loss of £43.2m for 2015 - blaming the costs of its transformation programme.

The bookmaker, which is looking to complete a £2.3bn merger with rival Coral, said business picked up in the final quarter of the year as its "aggressive three-year investment programme" got under way.

The focus was to grow its UK Retail, Digital and Australian recreational customer base after reporting a half-year loss of £51.4m which reflected the impact of betting shop closures in the UK and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) .

Its merger with Gala Coral was also announced last summer and is currently the subject of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is due to give its provisional views on the tie-up in mid-April.

Ladbrokes said its results also reflected growth of around £50m in gambling taxation and the roll out of lower stake slot games in its shops - adding all its machines complied with all the new Government regulations on controversial £50+ staking.

It reported a 68% reduction in that form of play over the year.

Chief executive Jim Mullen said the company was working to offset the effects of higher taxes and increased regulation.

"It is pleasing that after two quarters of execution of our plan, we can report progress," he said.

"We take encouragement that the customer metrics and revenue growth in H2 (the second half of the financial year) demonstrate a good response from our customers to our focus on people, product and promotions and reflect positively on some of the cultural and operational changes that have taken place.

"The challenge for Ladbrokes is to build on this start and remain intensely focused on reaching or exceeding the 2017 financial targets we set out in July."

Ladbrokes maintained its full-year guidance for 2016 and its shares closed nearly 6% higher on Tuesday.