William Hill scores golden goals to help profit rise

A series of six goal thrillers and high-scoring draws at the start of this season's Premiership should help William Hill's profits come in at the top end of City forecasts, the gambling giant said today.

Chief executive Ralph Topping said of the last three months: "The group has performed strongly in the quarter, even taking into account the weak prior year comparatives. We have seen an ongoing positive performance from our growing online business and from machines which, when allied to a period of very favourable sports results, have driven strong net revenue performance."

He said trading had remained ahead of last year since the end of September, adding: "Whilst a number of macro-economic factors leave us cautious in our expectations for 2011, the group is very well placed through the final quarter of 2010."

William Hill said full year operating profits would be at the top end of analysts' forecasts which had ranged from £251 million to £266 million.

The bookmaker said net revenue grew 22%, with internet revenue up 35% against 16% growth for retail, and group operating profit rose 64% in the 13 weeks to September 28.

Investec analyst Paul Leyland said: "This was driven almost entirely by a better than average football margin and so we are not changing 2011E forecasts. However, we are encouraged that William Hill has clearly beaten Ladbrokes on every line and continues to deliver strong growth in machines."

The shares rose 6.4p to 168.1p.