Paddy Power releases interim results
Paddy Power has released its interim results for the first 6 months to June 2003 showing an operating profit of €6.8m and profit after tax of €6.2m, and a turnover growth of 42%.
Chief executive John O'Reilly said that there has been solid progress during this period and significant expansion across all three operating divisions. He said the British retail operations continued to progress and he expects the online business to show a profit by year end.
The group operates 139 betting shops throughout Ireland and Britain, five of which were opened during this six-month period. As part of their strategy plan they hope have a test bed of around 12 shops in Britain by the end of the year.
O'Reilly, in his statement said that the call by Horse Racing Ireland for a 50% increase in betting tax to increase prize money was "misguided", saying that this would penalise shop customers, and ultimately divert money out of the country and reduce employment.
He continued by saying the group welcomes the progress in deregulation, saying it would raise standards in the industry as the market would not support poor quality and inefficient outlets.
The Board will be paying an interim dividend of 4.3c per share on 22 September 2003 to shareholders (on the register at the close of business on 12 September 2003).
