Yahoo Finance Ladbrokes owner posts higher revenues amid takeover approach
Ladbrokes’ parent company Entain has said revenues for the past three months have been buoyed by continued online growth and improvement in its UK betting shops, in an update weeks after a takeover approach.
Last month, the company, which also owns betting brand Coral, was the subject of a roughly £16 billion approach from US rival DraftKings.
Draftkings has until 5pm on Tuesday October 19 to formally submit its offer.
Entain did not reference the takeover interest as it highlighted to investors that its performance has been business as usual.
The betting giant hailed a “strong” performance in its third quarter to September 30, as net gaming revenue increased by 4% against the same period last year.
It revealed that online revenues rose by 10%, marking the 23rd consecutive quarter of double-digit online growth.
The firm said this was driven by strong performances across its major markets, including Australia and Brazil although it saw a weaker performance in Germany.
Meanwhile, its stores business saw 1% growth as it highlighted that UK volumes were “recovering to pre-Covid levels” as high street footfall recovers.
Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain’s chief executive officer, said: “These results demonstrate Entain’s continuing ability to deliver sustainable, consistent and diversified growth.
“By offering customers ever more engaging products, while leveraging our scale and technology, we will drive the flywheel effects of secular growth dynamics that can triple the size of our business.
“As a result, we remain very confident in Entain’s future prospects.”
The firm’s annual earnings are still due to be in line with its previous guidance of between £850 million and £900 million.
Shares in the company were 0.3% lower at 2,101.4p in early trading.
