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These are the latest headlines from the British bookmaking industry.
Huge Job Cuts Expected at Paddy Power, Betfair A circular shows that labour savings will constitute half the £50 million annual cost reductions from Paddy Power's merger with Betfair. Paddy Power has 5,000 staff while Betfair has 1,900.
Ladbrokes: Adverse Football Results Holding Back Business - Ladbrokes PLC on Monday outlined the fourth quarter and full-year results for the parts of Gala Coral Group Ltd with which it will merge, showing adverse sporting results are currently holding back the business.
Ladbrokes shareholders approved the GBP2.1 billion last week, despite opposition to the deal from prominent shareholder Dermot Desmond, an Irish billionaire.
Betfair Announcs Solid Numbers for First Half of 2015 - BETFAIR reported a solid rise in revenue and pre-tax profits as the company announced their results for the first half of 2015 on Wednesday ahead of their proposed merger with Ladbrokes.
Revenue was up 15 per cent to £274.4m and ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) increased nine per cent to £80.5m against a comparative period containing the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ladbrokes Shareholders Approve Merger With Coral - Shareholders in British bookmaker Ladbrokes (LAD.L) strongly backed its planned merger with rival Gala Coral on Tuesday but rebel investor Dermot Desmond vowed to fight on.
Star Fantasy Leagues Investor Dermot Desmond Ups Ante Against Coral Deal - Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond has come out swinging against the proposed Ladbrokes £2.2 billion merger with Gala Coral and is set to speak out against on Tuesday.
Desmond holds a 2.8% company stake in the company. He has criticised the performance of Ladbrokes’ governance since the company’s 2006 demerger from Hilton Group while alleging that the merger has been exclusively driven for the benefit of a few stakeholders in Ladbrokes and Gala Coral value chains.
“We are uncomfortable with the transaction. We think it is a deal that should not happen, We don’t expect to overturn the vote on Tuesday, but we want to raise the level of discourse with shareholders.”
Playtech Gives Up on £460m Plus500 Takeover - Gambling software company Playtech faces scrutiny from investors after its £460m takeover of troubled spread-better Plus500 collapsed in the face of worries about the deal from the financial services watchdog. More on this from the Telegraph
- Compiled by Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
