Published
OnlineLand-BasedFinancial

Ladbrokes points to POC to explain digital profit drop

Ladb

Ladbrokes
rokes said the point-of-consumption (POC) tax regime played a part in a headline digital operating loss of £23.8m in its preliminary full year 2015 financial results.

The loss was in comparison with a £14m headline operating profit for 2014.

As of December 2014, operators offering real-money gaming services to UK customers have been required to pay a 15% remote gaming duty on profits, regardless of where they are based.

Ladbrokes said: “In digital, the POC tax, the increased H2 marketing investment required to implement our strategy and the loss we recorded from HVCs in Q1 contributed to a significant decline in profitability.”

Last year was a year of change for Ladbrokes, as former William Hill COO Jim Mullen replaced Richard Glynn as CEO in April and John Kelly filled the position of chairman in December, which had been vacated by Peter Erskine.

In between those events occurring was an announcement in July that Ladbrokes plans to merge with fellow operator Gala Coral.

In other figures, headline group operating profit went down 36% to £80.6m, while a statutory operating loss of £15.4m was reported, in comparison with statutory operating profit of £66.2m.

Profit before tax dropped 47% to £52.5m in the headline band and a loss before tax in the statutory band of £43.2m was reported, compared to a positive £37.7m.

Growth was reported, in terms of headline net revenue, for UK retail and overall digital, with the former increasing 2% to £827.4m and the latter ascending 13% to £242.8m.

Ladbrokes also said the Gala Coral merger, which is currently under review by the Competition and Markets Authority, is “on track”.

The operator expects to see the CMA’s preliminary findings in late April.
Premium+ Connections
Premium

Digitain

 
Premium

Galaxsys

 
Premium

Sport Generate

 
Premium

Imagine Live

 
Premium

1xBet Partners

 
Premium

PIN-UP Partners

 
Premium

RISK

 
Premium

Lynon

 
Premium

Revsharks

 
Premium

GammaStack

 
 
Premium Connections
Consultancy

SCCG Management

Executive Profiles
Zeal Network SE

Stefan Tweraser

VIP Play

Les Ottolenghi

Scientific Games

Keshav Pitani

Social & App

Spribe CEO exclusive: Simplicity is the foundation

Spribe CEO David Natroshvili speaks to Gambling Insider abou...

Redefining iGaming: A history of crash games

Crash games is a growing vertical that has taken gambling by...

A certain something: What makes crash games special?

Crash games. They’re simple, they’re easy to learn and,...

Smarter innovation to shape the future

Spribe CCO Giorgi Tsutskiridze discusses the past, present a...

Facing Facts: The corner of quarterly contemplation

With Q1 reports out across the industry, Gambling Insider co...

Taking Stock: A guide to key stock prices across the industry

Gambling Insider tracks prices from some of the industry’s...

15 years of Gambling Insider: From the Founders

Over the last 15 years, Gambling Insider magazine has interv...

15 years of Gambling Insider: The Awards over time

Global Gaming Awards Event Manager Mariya Savova gives us he...