Ladbrokes Coral digital revenues up 22% despite “mixed” sporting results

Ladbrokes Coral has reported a 22% rise in year-to-date digital revenues after its online sportsbook recorded strong double-digit growth despite “mixed” sporting results.

The operator this morning revealed online revenues for the period between 1 January and 23 April were boosted by a 40% rise in digital sportsbook revenues, with stakes up 29% year-on-year.

Ladbrokes Coral said UK sporting results “gave with one hand and took with the other” during the period, with favourable results during the Cheltenham Festival and UK football in January but poor football results in the following months and a bad Grand National.

Elsewhere, the firm reported a modest 7% rise in online gaming revenues.

Ladbrokes Coral has commenced “large scale moves” of colleagues from Rayners Lane to Stratford

CEO Jim Mullen said he was pleased with the company’s performance and hailed the “successful transition” to a single digital IT platform completed following the merger on 1 November.

“Merger integration continues at pace, with significant changes undertaken in our Digital operations as we have already successfully completed the transfer of all key Digital systems to one unified platform,” Mullen said.

He added: “The online market remains highly competitive, although recent high profile sporting events seem to indicate that as much emphasis is being placed on customer retention as is being placed on the acquisition of new customers.

“Our plan is to continue to use our data driven marketing approach and leverage our market leading multi-channel capability to enhance returns.”

Ladbrokes Coral’s online business helped offset a fall in both its UK and European retail arms, with revenues declining 2% and 3% respectively. Overall group revenues increased 5% year-on-year.

The operator’s share price was down 4.21% to 123.00p on the London Stock Exchange at the time of writing.