With a familiar glint in its eye, Paddy Power has reported record profits of €167m for the 12 months to December 31, 2014, despite the year, in the bookmaker’s words, having “more ups and downs than Taylor Swift's love life.”
Net revenues for the 12 months increased 18 per cent to €882m, contributing to pre-tax profits of €167m, up 21 per cent on 2013. The online business accounted for 77 per cent of operating profits in 2014.
Announcing a €1.02 a share dividend, Paddy Power said it would make a special cash return to investors at €8 per share, a total of €392m.
A strong World Cup helped to counter a string of adverse football results, particularly in the first half of the year. Issuing the results, the company said: “Last year had more ups and downs than Taylor Swift's love life.
“We also learnt that not only can lightning strike in the same place twice, it can in fact strike three times, as it did in weeks two, 12, and 52, when practically every favourite in the main football leagues won.
“It was going to take a lot to offset that and while we had a positive run in the second half, including a bonanza during the final stages of the World Cup, we didn't manage to fully overturn a heavy first-half deficit.
“As a result, the group's gross win percentage was some 0.3 per cent below our expectations, which had a gross impact of approximately €24m before any customer recycling of winnings and related reductions in cost.”
