William Hill Shares Dive 11% On Profit Alert
William Hill shares dive 11% on revenue alert
(Close): William Hill shares shut down more than 11% after the bookie alerted on earnings.
It said online trading had been hit by tougher regulation and "the worst Cheltenham results in current history".
It now expects full-year operating earnings to be in between ₤ 260m and ₤ 280m, below ₤ 291.4 m in 2015. As a result, the FTSE 250 company saw its shares drop nearly 40p to 331p.
However, the benchmark FTSE 100 ended flat, up 6.4 points at 6199.1.
Top riser on the FTSE 100 was B&Q owner Kingfisher. Its shares ended up 6% despite reporting a 20% drop in full-year profits to ₤ 512m.
However, when reorganizing costs were removed out, underlying revenues were a better-than-expected ₤ 686m.
William Hill said there were 2 primary factors behind the weaker-than-expected performance from its online service.
It stated it had actually seen "a velocity in the number of time-outs and automated self-exclusions over recent weeks", measures which permit punters to stop betting with a bookmaker.
William Hill said that while the pattern was "still developing, we approximate that, ought to these trends continue around present levels, the consequent lower profits will minimize online's revenues by ₤ 20-25m in 2016".
Secondly, its profit margins were lower than anticipated since of European football results and recently's Cheltenham horseracing festival, where bookmakers were hit by large a number of favourites winning races.
William Hill said that in spite of its online issues, the more comprehensive group continued "to trade well" and was in line with expectations.
The company also said it was in "advanced conversations" to invest in Openbet, a gaming software application firm.
William Hill shares dive 11% on revenue alert
(Close): William Hill shares shut down more than 11% after the bookie alerted on earnings.
It said online trading had been hit by tougher regulation and "the worst Cheltenham results in current history".
It now expects full-year operating earnings to be in between ₤ 260m and ₤ 280m, below ₤ 291.4 m in 2015. As a result, the FTSE 250 company saw its shares drop nearly 40p to 331p.
However, the benchmark FTSE 100 ended flat, up 6.4 points at 6199.1.
Top riser on the FTSE 100 was B&Q owner Kingfisher. Its shares ended up 6% despite reporting a 20% drop in full-year profits to ₤ 512m.
However, when reorganizing costs were removed out, underlying revenues were a better-than-expected ₤ 686m.
William Hill said there were 2 primary factors behind the weaker-than-expected performance from its online service.
It stated it had actually seen "a velocity in the number of time-outs and automated self-exclusions over recent weeks", measures which permit punters to stop betting with a bookmaker.
William Hill said that while the pattern was "still developing, we approximate that, ought to these trends continue around present levels, the consequent lower profits will minimize online's revenues by ₤ 20-25m in 2016".
Secondly, its profit margins were lower than anticipated since of European football results and recently's Cheltenham horseracing festival, where bookmakers were hit by large a number of favourites winning races.
William Hill said that in spite of its online issues, the more comprehensive group continued "to trade well" and was in line with expectations.
The company also said it was in "advanced conversations" to invest in Openbet, a gaming software application firm.