Where do you think they will go to or should i sell now

Q1 Interim Management Statement

Significant strategic progress and profit growth continues

19 April 2013

William Hill PLC (LSE: WMH) (William Hill or the Group) announces its Interim Management Statement for the 13 weeks end\ed 2 April 2013 (the period or Q1). All comparisons are with the equivalent 13-week period in 2012 (Q1 2012).

Financial highlights in the period

· Group net revenue grew by 15%1 and Operating profit2 was up 8%
· Online net revenue grew by 21% and Operating profit2 was up 13%
· Retail net revenue grew by 8%1 and Operating profit2 was 3% lower
· Sportsbook net revenue was up 47%
· Mobile Sportsbook amounts wagered grew by 145%
· Mobile gaming net revenue grew by 298%

Key Group highlights of the year-to-date

Development of Online and mobile business continues apace

· Online operations including Australia contributed 45% of Operating profit2 in the period
· Sportsbook3 amounts wagered surpassed OTC amounts wagered in all 13 weeks of the quarter, averaging 110% of OTC wagering levels in the period
· Mobile amounts wagered beat our £15m target, averaging £18.2m a week
· Mobile accounted for 35% of Sportsbook amounts wagered in the period

Successful completion of significant corporate activity:

· £424m acquisition of outstanding 29% of William Hill Online completed on 15 April 2013
· c£373m (net) raised from rights issue; completed on 5 April, with over 98% take-up
· £459m acquisition of Sportingbet Australian business completed on 19 March 2013

Probably the most user friendly of all the online bookies. I took up the rights issue and believe we could see a fiver over the coming year.

Wanna bet :-)

lol , no I always lose that's why I bought shares them :-)

Note the "M" word Dil :-)

Interim Results

Significant strategic progress:

William Hill Australia established with £459m acquisition of Sportingbet's Australian business, completed on 19 March 2013

Gained full control of rapidly growing Online business through £424m acquisition of 29% outstanding stake, completed on 15 April 2013

Balance sheet transformation with £373m rights issue completed on 5 April 2013 and £375m corporate bond issued on 5 June 2013

Continued momentum:

Group net revenue up 20% and Operating profit2 up 8%

Outstanding growth in Online Sportsbook net revenue +44%, driving overall online net revenue growth, up 18% and Operating profit2 growth, up 16%

Continued strong growth in mobile with mobile Sportsbook amounts wagered up 112% and mobile gaming net revenue up 198%

Strong over-the-counter (OTC) gross win margin growth drives growth in Retail net revenue1. Operating profit2 down only £2.2m after additional c£5m taxation charge following change to Machines Games Duty in February

Basic adjusted earnings per share +16% and dividend +16%

Net debt for covenant purposes increased to £821m (2 January 2013: £339m) with impact of acquisitions offset by £373m (net) rights issue

Shares in William Hill sank sharply on Friday morning as investors gave a cool reaction to the High Street bookie's first-half results. Even Canaccord Genuity, which labelled the figures as "strong", kept its 'hold' recommendation and 438p target price for the shares, highlighting headwinds for the company in 2015.

Growth is set to remain strong this year and 2014 will be helped by the World Cup, but 2015 "represents a bigger challenge in the form of UK point of consumption tax, which we forecast will result in FY15 earnings being in line with FY13", said analyst Simon Davies.

StockMarketWire.com
Gambling group William Hill announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Tom Waterhouse (tomwaterhouse.com), the Australian online betting firm, for a cash consideration of A$34m (£20m).

There is also the assumption of up to $6m (£3m) of balance sheet liabilities.

A potential additional earn-out on a sliding scale of up to A$70m in cash is payable, subject to tomwaterhouse.com achieving incremental operating profit on a sliding scale between A$10m and A$30m in the year to 31st December 2015.

William Hill acquired Sportingbet's Australian business in March 2013 for £459m. This further acquisition builds on this, reinforcing the Group's strategy of selective international expansion as the Group develops its second 'home' market in Australia.

tomwaterhouse.com was established in 2010 and is one of Australia's fastest growing online racing and sports betting businesses. It is a privately held company owned by Tom Waterhouse and others. It has approximately 80 employees based in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin, and is led by managing director, Tom Waterhouse. It has delivered rapid customer and revenue growth, and enjoys strong brand recognition in the Australian market. In the financial year to 30 June 2013, it generated revenues of A$28m, growing by 250% year on year. tomwaterhouse.com also has key media deals, including with Channel 9 (NRL) and Channel 7 (Racing and AFL).

The acquisition offers William Hill:

· additional scale in the regulated and rapidly growing Australian online betting market;

· exclusive access to key media deals;

· a business with significant customer and revenue growth momentum;

· a complementary customer base with limited cross-over into William Hill Australia's existing customer base and with a strong focus on recreational customers; and

· significant online and mobile potential, leveraging William Hill's existing expertise.

On completion, tomwaterhouse.com will become part of William Hill Australia, which also includes the Sportingbet and Centrebet brands. Tom Waterhouse will remain as Managing Director of the tomwaterhouse brand and joins William Hill's Australian management team, reporting to Michael Sullivan.

tomwaterhouse.com is not currently profitable but the Group expects to achieve substantial synergies as it supports the business's ongoing growth through its existing William Hill Australia operation. Given the phasing of the proposed integration, the operating profit contribution from tomwaterhouse.com is expected to be marginally negative in the year to 31 December 2013 and marginally positive in the following year, enhancing underlying earnings (i.e., before transaction and integration costs and the amortisation of intangible assets associated with the proposed acquisition) in that year. The acquisition is expected to deliver a return on invested capital in excess of the Group's post-tax cost of capital in 2015. There will be c$7m (£4m) of exceptional transaction and integration costs.

Ralph Topping, CEO of Wm Hill, said: "We are pleased to have secured this acquisition. International expansion is a key part of our growth strategy and making Australia our second home is a priority. The Sportingbet acquisition gave us a strong and proven platform with an experienced management team. Acquiring tomwaterhouse.com gives us a rapidly growing business that appeals to a complementary customer base.

"We are bringing together some of the best talent in the bookmaking industry into one formidable team. I'm impressed by Tom Waterhouse and his team, who are passionate and entrepreneurial. They've built a good business in a short period of time and have achieved strong growth momentum."

Nice looking chart Harry - are you holding?

No, sadly! When I was looking at stocks for my ISA, WMH didn't qualify on it's divi yield. I do keep it on my watchlist though, just to remind me what could have been!

Sold mine a while ago when their onsite offers were cut back. Nice while it lasted and probably still the best online bookie.

StockMarketWire.com
Betting group William Hill said overall quarterly performance was impacted by quiet July trading in Retail together with lower results-linked gross win margin in the quarter. Operating profit was down c£24m or 31% in the period.

Growth continued in the last quarter, with Sportsbook amounts wagered up 42%, with football Sportsbook wagering up 49% and mobile wagering on Sportsbook up 115%.

Mobile gaming net revenue increased 126%, with mobile accounting for 18% of gaming net revenue.

Retail football staking increased 27% in the quarter.

The group has commenced the roll-out of Eclipse gaming machines into half the Retail estate.

· Further developed William Hill Australia with the £20m acquisition of tomwaterhouse.com, extending our Australian presence into a wider recreational customer base

· Good progress on William Hill Australia growth strategies with improved first time deposit trends and actions taken to reduce average cost per acquisition by the year end

· 47% growth in wagering in William Hill US as product proliferation and mobile expansion drive strong growth

· Exercised call option over the Spanish Miapuesta brand and commenced integration into the William Hill brand in that market

Overall quarterly performance was impacted by quiet July trading in Retail together with lower results-linked gross win margin in the quarter.

Retail over-the-counter (OTC) gross win margin was down 0.8 percentage points and Online Sportsbook gross win margin down 1.5 percentage points versus Q3 2012.

Group net revenue grew by 10% in Q3, up 4% on the comparable quarter after adjusting for Machine Games Duty (MGD), and is up 17% on a year-to-date basis, up 10% on an underlying basis after adjusting for MGD.

Group Operating profit was down c£24m or 31% in the period, down 4% year-to-date.

WMH ex-divi wed 23rd Oct (3.7p)

William going downHill 100 by Xmas

Going well today , who's the joker above ,hope he's not someones advisory broker.

LOL.

Loads errr money jimmy, loads err money here over xmas and new year.

Some hefty Broker SP Targets for Hills.....

WILLIAM HILL BROKER VIEWS

Date Broker Recommendation Price Old target price New target price Notes
18 Dec Investec Buy 390.15 530.00 530.00 Retains
17 Dec Canaccord Genuity Hold 390.15 425.00 408.00 Reiterates
10 Dec Barclays Capital Overweight 390.15 440.00 440.00 Reiterates
09 Dec Credit Suisse Outperform 390.15 465.00 465.00 Reiterates
02 Dec Numis Buy 390.15 550.00 550.00 Reiterates

bloody hell; this one has got excited today; thought i had missed the boat even this morning, but not so, though i did :-)

Get in, I insist you go long and buy.

William Hill looks like its technicaly oversold BUT get this from Galvan...........the FTSE 350 best 5 performomg stocks during the Santa Rally over the last 10 years have been....

Alliance Trust
Balfour beatty
William Hill
JP Morgan Emerging Markets Trust
Witan Investment Trust

In the same period the best performing sectors have been....

Construction @ Materials
Life Insurance
Support Services
Travel @ Leisure
Mobile Telecommunications.

in the same period and ALL YEAR the best performing days are......

27 th Dec (best performing day of the year)
24th December (half day only xmas eve)
4th place 23rd of december.

And no the report doesnt give the 3rd best day.

Their 3 NAPS are the top three in the list above.

i'm torn between greed and fear of the markets having a sharp correction ..... or is it hope that the markets will have a sharp correction, always excluding the stocks and sector bets that i already have in place :-)