William Hill operating profit up 11 pct in 2014 despite poor Q4

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Leading British bookmaker William Hill (Other OTC: WIMHY - news) said its full 2014 operating profit rose 11 percent to 371 million pounds ($560 million) even as fourth quarter revenues suffered due to unfavorable football and horse racing results.

The company said the rise in operating profit was due to a successful World Cup and good growth in net revenues from online and from operations in Australia and the United States.

"In Q4, generally weaker sporting results in December impacted our revenue progression, as did a very tough November comparative, but gaming continued to grow," said James Henderson, chief executive of William Hill.

The company did not disclose figures aside from its 2014 operating profit.

William Hill said it would be rebranding all of its existing Australian trading operations under the William Hill brand, which it expects to commence in February.

The company intends to invest an incremental 5 million pounds in marketing and other costs to launch its brand. ($1 = 0.6628 pounds) (Reporting By Shivam Srivastav in Bangalore; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)