The first quarter of 2010 traditionally brings the announcements of 2009 yearly earnings from online gaming and poker outlets that are traded on various stock exchanges around the world. The gaming corporation William Hill PLC announced its 2009 Fiscal Report late last week; the online gaming sector helped to drive the company through a difficult year.
While overall net profits for William Hill rose by 4% in 2009 to £997.9 million versus £963.7 million in 2008, the online arm of the company was able to offset a decrease in retail betting shops. William Hill is one of the preeminent bookmaking and slot operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but was affected by the difficult economic situation that many companies had to contend with in 2009. The net revenues from retail outlets decreased by 4% to £757.5 million (from £790.7 million in 2008).
William Hill was able to offset the retail decrease through revitalized online operations. In late 2008, William Hill announced a joint venture with the gaming software company Playtech that had a significant effect on its online operations that include online casinos, poker, and sports books. For the year, online net revenues for William Hill rose an astounding 63% to £203.5 million versus the £125.1 million earned in 2008.
In the online end of the William Hill operations, the full integration of Playtech into the company made excellent inroads. The growth of the customer base during 2009, with new accounts increasing by 28%, portends future success with the company. The sports book showed a steady revenue, but there were increases in the amounts that customers wagered and a 30% increase in customer accounts.
Ralph Topping, who started at William Hill in a Glasgow betting shop in 1973 and became the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 2008, commented during the fiscal year announcement, “In terms of 2009, the scale and breadth of our business ensured that we were well-placed to ride out the extra volatility in sporting results and the areas affected by the economy were counteracted by good growth in gaming machines and our improving online performance.”
“We have transformed key parts of William Hill in the last year,” Topping continued. “William Hill Online is almost unrecognizable from a year ago, with highly competitive gaming products, proven marketing expertise and a sports book that has more pre-match and live betting products.” Topping also noted that William Hill has been able to move forward with new technologies in their retail outlets that will improve the quality of the gaming experience for customers.
William Hill’s poker outlet is a part of the iPoker Network, which currently ranks as the fourth largest in the industry according to PokerScout.com. Behind only U.S. facing sites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, the iPoker Network consistently battles PartyPoker for the third place slot on the PokerScout traffic counts. Unlike the two industry leaders, however, PartyPoker and the iPoker Network do not allow American action.
With the announcement of the company’s fiscal year 2009 reports, William Hill’s stock prices have been on the rise. Trading on the London Stock Exchange under the stock code “WMH,” the stock price dipped as low as 192.5 pence during trading on Friday. Monday saw a drop in the stock to just over 191 pence, but it has rebounded noticeably since then. By the close of business on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, William Hill stock was trading at 200.9 pence, making the company’s estimated value approximately £1.4 billion.
