Betfair and Paddy to merge

Won`t effect me as the both limited my sportsbook







BETFAIR and Paddy Power have reached an agreement in principle to follow in the footsteps of Ladbrokes and Coral and join forces in a merger to create one of the world’s largest online gambling companies.

The move would result in a combined group with a revenue of over £1.1 billion, leaving them “better placed to compete in existing and new markets”.

Paddy Power chairman Gary McGann and Betfair chief executive Breon Corcoran, formerly of Paddy Power, would fulfil the same roles in the combined group, while Paddy Power chief executive Andy McCue would become chief operating officer and Betfair’s Alex Gersh chief financial officer.

Paddy Power shareholders would own 52 per cent of the new business with the remainder held by Betfair.

Corcoran said: “The proposed merger with Paddy Power is hugely exciting. It would create a truly global sports betting group with unmatched products and talent, and significantly enhanced scale.

“The combined business would be one of the world’s largest online sports betting operators, with revenues totalling more than £1 billion.”

As with the Ladbrokes and Coral deal, the merger is subject to receiving approval from the competition authorities and the two companies expect to provide an update in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday Betfair also revealed strong performance in the first quarter of 2015 with a revenue increase of 15 per cent to £135.4 million and Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) up 19 per cent to £41m, which includes £12.8m of additional UK point of consumption tax.

Corcoran said: “These results represent another strong performance. Double-digit revenue growth against the period containing the World Cup last year is particularly encouraging and was ahead of our expectations.

“Betfair has continued to attract and retain customers through investment in our products, attractive pricing and market-leading promotions.

“The football season has started well, helped by increased brand investment. In time for kick-off we launched our ‘More to Play For’ advertising campaign across Sky Sports and BT Sport, signed new partnerships with five Premier League clubs and increased our presence on stadium perimeter boards.

He added: “Betfair US continues to perform well, helped by the acquisition of HRTV and TVG’s subsequent access to additional premium horseracing content.

“Betfair’s current momentum is strong and the business remains well placed to execute against our strategy and to continue to deliver profitable growth.”

Paddy Power also took the opportunity to share promising results for the same period with an operating profit growth of 33 per cent to €80m - taking into consideration new taxes and product fees - and a net revenue rise of 25 per cent with strong double-digit growth across all online and retail divisions.

McCue said: “Paddy Power has delivered a very strong performance in the first half and underlying operating profit was up 68 per cent excluding the impact of new taxes and product fees.

“While this performance was broadly based across all our online and retail divisions, Australia has been the standout with reported operating profit up 78 per cent.

“We have made substantial progress implementing the strategy we set out in March, with further payback to come from new mobile product releases, refreshed marketing campaigns and efficiency gains.

“We now expect full year 2015 reported operating profit to be a mid to high single digit percentage above 2014 and the consensus market forecast.”

www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/bet...veTabs=last7DaysNews

@RacingPost: BREAKING: Paddy Power and Betfair have agreed a £5 billion deal with Paddy Power owning 52 per cent of the group and Betfair owning the rest

Lets hope that the Power family have more Sole Powers and Slade Powers for us to watch and enjoy. Surely they must have more money than the Guiness family, or maybe not, but nevertheless these people are frivolously rich.

Maybe their first acquisition will be Phumelela. For a pound. Which at least is 20x more (at current exchange rates) than Phumelela paid for SA racing. Lol.

Won`t lay me two bob on SA racing

i see everyone getting excited about corals laying to £2000 in " good quality races " it`s basically saying racing is bent and dont bet in the low grade races

whats the story with betfair and south Africa im sure they applied for some license and the one requirement was to close down sa ?

pirates wrote: whats the story with betfair and south Africa im sure they applied for some license and the one requirement was to close down sa ?

Think they gave up

Started trading today

Bob Brogan wrote:

pirates wrote: whats the story with betfair and south Africa im sure they applied for some license and the one requirement was to close down sa ?

Think they gave up

In spite of the Dept of trade and industries gambling commission recommending the licencing of exchanges ........................they rightly equated exchanges and the tote, both, as person to person gambling

Bob Brogan wrote:

pirates wrote: whats the story with betfair and south Africa im sure they applied for some license and the one requirement was to close down sa ?

Think they gave up

With the current exchange rate no UK betting company could possibly think of investing in this shit hole

Raceover wrote:

Bob Brogan wrote:

pirates wrote: whats the story with betfair and south Africa im sure they applied for some license and the one requirement was to close down sa ?

Think they gave up

With the current exchange rate no UK betting company could possibly think of investing in this shit hole

They could buy every bookie in SA for a bag of loose change at Current exchange rate