Ladbrokes confident of future on its own
Betting shop chain Ladbrokes spun off from hotels business Hilton today by announcing its second best ever year for profits.
While the figure was lower than last year’s record – down 2% at £266.6m (€391.1m) - Ladbrokes said it had “strong foundations” in place after the disposal of Hilton’s hotels to its American sister company. The move will be completed later today and reunite the Hilton company after more than 40 years apart.
In a final set of results before the split, profits before tax were up 9.9% to £413.9m (€607.3m) on sales of £11.5bn (€16.9bn) in 2005.
Ladbrokes, which has 2,583 shops in the UK and Ireland as well as online and telephone betting services, said it was braced for an “action-packed” year with this year’s football World Cup and the Ashes cricket series next winter.
