Ladbrokes Predicted 32.8 percent drop in profits

Thursday March 20,2014 :  LADBROKES CONFIRMS A DISMAL 2013 PERFORMANCE (Update)
 
Predicted 32.8 percent drop in profits reflected in newly released annual report.
 
The troubled land and online gambling group Ladbrokes released its formal annual report this week, confirming earlier warnings that it was not going to make happy reading for investors.
 
The group continues to trail behind its peers in the online and mobile sectors, with just 15.7 percent (down slightly at GBP 175 million) of overall revenues being generated by the digital division despite the much promised improvements expected to flow from the switch in software provider to Playtech.
 
By contrast the UK land operations contributed 72.1 percent of net revenue, although that could decline in future following Management's decision to cut back on investment in this division in order to boost digital activity. European retail operations delivered almost 12 percent of net revenues.
 
Group net revenue came in at GBP 1,111.3 million in 2013, down again, this time by 0.6 percent, but more importantly profits dropped by a worrying 32.8 percent.
 
Creating widespread comment despite the contractual nature of the remuneration was the package awarded to embattled CEO Richard Glynn. His total package came in at GBP 4.7 million…a remarkable 85 percent increase on his rewards in 2012.
 
Both CEO Glynn and chairman Peter Erskine remain upbeat about the future, saying that significant operational progress has been made and things should get better.