Revenue growth in Australia and the US helped Paddy Power Betfair to mitigate unfavourable sporting results in the UK and Ireland during Q1 2019.
In a trading update, the group showed overall revenues of £478m, up 17 per cent year-on-year (Q1 2018: £408m).
Within sports, there was strong revenue growth in Sportsbet and Fanduel, while in gaming, Paddy Power Betfair described as “excellent” the growth across European and US online businesses, supplemented by the acquisition of Georgian online sports and betting operator Adjarabet at the start of February. Gaming revenue grew to £113m in the first quarter, up 26 per cent on the previous year’s £90m.
Paddy Power Betfair said that excluding the US, full-year profits remain in line with expectations, while in the States the company if continuing to see good returns on its investment.
Chief executive Pater Jackson said: "Q1 was a good quarter for the group with revenues up 17 per cent, notwithstanding customer friendly sports results in the UK. Underlying momentum remains good for Paddy Power with 22 per cent growth in average daily actives. For Betfair, we continue to make good progress on the technology development work to enhance our global customer propositions which will enable us to accelerate international growth.
“Meanwhile, the geographical diversification of our online business has been further enhanced by the addition of Adjarabet in February, with integration progressing well.
“In Australia, Sportsbet delivered a very strong quarter with revenues increasing by 20 per cent. As we anticipated, our ongoing investment in customer value and the recent tax increases are strengthening Sportsbet's competitive positioning.
In the US, FanDuel Group is making huge progress, with our unique proposition of brand, product offering, existing fantasy customer base, US market experience and global sports betting expertise driving a Q1 New Jersey sports betting market share of 50 per cent.
“We continue to refine our responsible gambling operating capabilities, with the launch of an enhanced CAAP proprietary model that enables us to identify and interact with at-risk customers. The model now monitors over 115 customer behaviours daily and assigns risk scores to each active customer. Continuing to be proactive both with our own initiatives and through collaboration with our industry peers is imperative as we focus on the long-term sustainability of our operations and our industry.
“Trading in April has been in line with our expectations. In the US, FanDuel remains well positioned to generate good returns on ongoing sports betting investment and for rest of the Group we remain on track to meet our full year profit expectations despite the adverse sports results in Q1. We remain excited about the growth opportunities that lie ahead for the group."
