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Online improvement drives William Hill revenue higher

Reuters - UK Focus

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) boosted by improved online performance

* Profits hit by wins for well-backed teams

* Company coy on prospects for M&A (Recasts, adds shares, CEO comments)

By Rahul B

Aug 2 (Reuters) - An improved performance from its online business helped British bookmaker William Hill Plc (Frankfurt: 633847 - news) to post a rise in first-half revenue, sending its shares up sharply.

William Hill, which in March named a new chief executive and a finance boss, said revenue rose 3 percent to 837 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the first half of the year and also nudged up its interim dividend by 4 percent.

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For William Hill, a stronger online business marks a clear recovery from a year ago when it fired its previous chief executive for not making enough progress in the sector.

Attracting gamblers who want to bet on live sports events via tablet or smartphone is now a vital part of the business for William Hill and rival Ladbrokes Coral Group which retain thousands of betting shops on British high streets.

Shares in William Hill rose as much as 10 percent in morning trade. Shares had been down nearly 13 percent down so far this year.

"We are confident about delivering a good outturn in 2017 and beyond." William Hill said on Wednesday.

Revenue from online channels -- a key area for the company -- was up 5 percent on strong growth in the UK.

However, first-half pretax profit fell 11 percent as the bookmaker had to pay out on wins for well-backed soccer teams.

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) analysts, in a client note, said the growth in online was driven by improvements in product and customer experience.

Among innovations, the company, which founded as a postal and telephone betting service in 1934, allows gamblers to ask the company for odds on Twitter (Frankfurt: A1W6XZ - news) .

WINNING STREAK

Revenue growth held up despite no major soccer tournament this year whereas financial results in the same period last year were boosted by the European championship, held every four years.

Wins for some of the biggest English soccer clubs took their toll on profitability.

"Chelsea won six out of six of their last league matches, Spurs and Arsenal won five out six," Chief Executive Philip Bowcock told Reuters adding that major results towards the end of the reporting period were also customer-friendly.

William Hill has missed out on industry-wide consolidation which has seen Paddy Power (EUREX: 27913021.EX - news) combining with Betfair and Ladbrokes (Amsterdam: LB6.AS - news) joining forces with Gala Coral.

"M&A by its nature is very opportunistic and we will listen and talk to anybody at the appropriate time but now we are focused on delivering on our UK performance," Bowcock said. ($1 = 0.7556 pounds) (Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely/Keith Weir)