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20 May 2005
Hilton Hit As Outsiders Fail To
Come First
Hilton
Group, the hotelier and owner of the Ladbrokes chain of
bookmakers, warned this morning that profits had been hit by
a sparsity of unlikely, long-odds winners.
In a trading statement,
Hilton said group profits for the first four months of 2005
were 4 per cent down on last year thanks to "tough trading
comparatives" at Ladbrokes.
Over the first nine months
of 2004, Ladbrokes and other bookmaking groups reported
bumper profits after a number of outside shots won major
horse races and the 100-1 outsiders Greece emerged
victorious from the Euro 2004 football
tournament.
Sporting results have
since returned to a more normal pattern, leading to a
tail-off in earnings growth for most bookmakers.
Hilton said its eponymous
hotel division had "continued to improve" over the first
four months of the year, with the announced disposal of
£300 million to 400 million of hotels
"ongoing."
After offloading 11 hotels
for £111 million in March, finance director Brian
Wallace said the group was poised to sell off a further
swathe of UK hotels this summer.
"We are now at an advanced
stage of preparation to put a further package of UK hotels
on the market in early July, with a view primarily to sale
and manage or possibly outright sale," Mr Wallace
said.
Looking ahead, Hilton said
its hotels operation would continue to make progress over
the remainder of 2005, with revenue per available room, the
accepted measure of a hotel's performance, set for further
improvement.
Meanwhile, the second half
of the year should usher in "good" revenue growth and
improved profit margins at the Betting and Gaming division
following the "challenging" start to 2005, Hilton
said.
For the Ladbrokes chain,
total gross win for the first four months of the year was in
line with last year, with higher turnover offset by a lower
proportion of bets won.
Winnings at its UK betting
shops fell 1 per cent due to "weak" margins from horseracing
wagers, while the telephone betting contribution to group
gross win fell 8 per cent over the first four months of the
year.
By contrast, Ladbrokes'
online operations reported a 23 per cent rise in gross win,
Hilton said.
Chief executive David
Michels said he was not concerned that archrival William
Hill's purchase of casino group Stanley Leisure PlC's chain
of betting shops had seen it leapfrog Ladbrokes as the UK's
biggest chain.
Stanley's 624 betting
offices have swollen the William Hill estate to some 2,237
outlets, compared to Ladbrokes' chain of around 1,900
bookmakers.
Related pages:
Hilton
Hopes High Of UK Casino
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Unveils Blackpool Blueprint
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