Ladbrokes pre-tax profit for 2009

Ladbrokes’2009 year-end results reveal pre-tax profit is down by more than a quarter.

Pre-tax profit fell 28% year-on-year (YoY), a reflection of the tough economic conditions and punter-friendly results hitting margins in the third quarter, landing at £191.3m ($301.5m) from 265.6m in 2008.

“In the third quarter, our customers had a good and long- running winning streak,” chief executive Christopher Bell said in a conference call this morning, also blaming the UK economy.

Ladbrokes’ third quarter results were hit by football bets after the first 66 Premier League matches saw just four draws, compared with a five-year season average of 25% of games drawn. This bad run continued in the winter, with a UK cold snap having causing a wave of racing abandonments in December and January, and group net revenue down by 4.6% in the first seven weeks of 2010.

The company has more than 2,700 betting shops in addition to its online business and said 2009 net income fell to £74.4m ($116.3m), or 9.9p per share, from £200.7m, or 28.3p; while revenue dipped 10% to £1.03bn.

Its egaming profit fell 16% YoY to £46.1m.

Ladbrokes also launched a deal with Worldspreads Group for the provision of financial spread betting, a deal that could contribute to earnings before interest and tax, Bell said.

However Ladbrokes failed to reveal any progress on finding a replacement for Chris Bell, who is stepping down as chief executive this year after nearly 20 years at Ladbrokes.