The highlights of Paddy Power’s 2009 results include an increased market share and turnover in all divisions, record online profits and successful entry into Australian and B2B markets. However, the Irish bookmaker did report that 2009 sports results were below expectations, leading to an 8% decline in operating profits.
Commenting on the results Patrick Kennedy, Chief Executive, Paddy Power plc said: “Despite the economic problems, 2009 was a cracking year for Paddy Power punters on two fronts. The year saw a slew of punterfriendly sporting results which was the exact opposite to the experience of the prior year. Also, Paddy Power once again invested heavily in bringing unsurpassed value to our customers through a range of ‘stand out’ offers. This focus on value saw the Group drive up turnover and enhance market share across all channels by competing aggressively and attracting and retaining a record number of customers.”
During 2009 Paddy Power opened 25 new shops in the UK, established new business to business revenue stream by acquiring PMU in France as the first client, and established the number one position in the highly attractive Australia online corporate bookmaker market. The company increased exposure to internet growth with trading profits from online gaming now accounting for 75% of group profits.
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Retail market share in Ireland rose from 26% to 32%.
Patrick Kennedy concluded, “In recent months we have engaged with the Irish Government on the potential for taxation of telephone and online betting in Ireland. In our view, such a tax will raise only relatively modest revenue, will be costly to implement and will be problematic, if not impossible, to enforce; points we have made to the Government with accompanying evidence. We have nonetheless never had an objection to paying tax on the internet betting of Irish customers, assuming that any tax is enforceable on all internet bookmakers providing services to the Irish market and not just on those of us who are based in Ireland providing valuable sustainable employment.” (E-03.02.10)
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