Guys

from your posts on here,there are obviously several who use Betfair

I note that again Betfair is off the air virtually all afternoon today and wondered on your views
Personally I find it apalling that a Stock Market Listed company has such frequent IT disruption. Whenever I suggest that they should have some form of resiliency it falls on deaf ears
No other IT service supplier would get away with such a pathetic service availability

Any views appreciated

Trading update
Betfair is today hosting a presentation for investors and analysts to discuss its product development and technology capabilities. In conjunction with this event, Betfair is providing a trading update for the three months ended 31 October 2014 ("Q2"):

· Q2 revenue was up 22% to £119m driven by strong growth in active customers and favourable sporting results

· Normalising for unusually high gross win margins, Q2 revenue was up 13%

Breon Corcoran, Betfair's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Betfair received a boost in Q1 from a strong World Cup performance and our focus in the second quarter has been on maintaining this momentum. Encouragingly, the recent growth in customer activity has continued with the active customer base up 30% in Q2. These trends, combined with favourable sporting results, have led to another strong quarter and underpin our confidence in delivering our expectations for the year.

One of Betfair's key advantages is its product differentiation and this results from having leading in-house technology capability. Cash Out and Price Rush are examples of how Betfair has developed products that are changing the way our customers bet. Today we are hosting an event to explain how we approach new product development and operate a platform that processes over ten million transactions each day."

Half Yearly Report

Financial highlights

· Revenue up 26%, driven by strong customer base growth and successful Gaming cross-sell, as well as the World Cup and favourable sports results

· Excluding the World Cup and unusually high gross win margins, revenue was up 12%

· Strong revenue growth resulted in EBITDA up 51% to £73.9m

· Underlying free cash flow up 186% to £67.2m

Operational highlights

· Active customer base up 50% to over one million following record activations and increased loyalty driven by our signature Cash Out and Price Rush products

· Mobile revenue more than doubled and now represents 70% of Sportsbook revenue

· Gaming revenue up 44% following a 63% increase in the number of Sports customers using Gaming products for the first time

· Betfair US revenue up 17% as TVG launches the first Apple approved US horseracing betting app

Returning capital to shareholders

· Announcing a cash return of £200m to shareholders

· Interim dividend up 50% to 9.0 pence per share

· Increasing the medium term dividend payout target to approximately 50% of earnings

Outlook

· Now expecting full year EBITDA of between £97m and £103m

StockMarketWire.com
Betfair's revenues rose by 20% to £114.6m in the three months to the end of January - the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

Revenue from sustainable markets (UK, Ireland, USA, Italy, Denmark, Malta, Spain and Bulgaria) was up 27% to £92.9m (Q3 FY14: £73.2m), driven by a 50% increase in the number of active customers. Revenue from other markets was down 2% year on year in line with our strategy of focusing investment in regulated jurisdictions.

Sports revenue growth (+16%) continued to be led by mobile. In recent months, 80% of UK Sportsbook customers placed a bet using a mobile device and the channel accounted for the majority of new activations.

Betfair chief executive Breon Corcoran said: "This was another strong quarter. Betfair has momentum and is continuing to gain share in its key markets by acquiring and retaining customers through product differentiation, attractive odds and generous promotions.

"We are now two years into a programme of substantial product and marketing investment and this is delivering sustained growth. Our in-house development capability is allowing us to develop new products quickly and efficiently. This is particularly evident in mobile, where our proprietary technology gives us an edge in the largest and fastest growing channel.

"We are entering one of the key periods in the sporting calendar and are focussed on finishing the year strongly. We recently launched a major new marketing campaign ("Tap Tap Boom") and our headline Cheltenham Festival offer is Betfair's most generous yet. Beyond that, we are set for record levels of political betting around a closely contested UK General Election. Betfair's Exchange is the go-to platform for those either wishing to have a bet on, or understand the most likely outcome of, the election.

"The strong Q3 performance and the continuing momentum we are carrying into the final quarter mean we now expect full-year EBITDA of between £113m and £118m."

Goodbody note today:
"Betfair released Q3 trading update (end Jan), reporting revenue of £114.6m, +20% yoy, and EBITDA of £23.6m, +17% yoy (Goodbody £107m and £17m). Sustainable revenues increased 27% yoy, with other markets -2% yoy. Management has increased EBITDA guidance to £113-118m, which compares to our forecast before today of £105m (previous range was £97-103m) and consensus of c.£104m.

All three revenue lines delivered double-digit growth. Starting with sports, it increased +16% yoy to £77m, with mobile the driver. Eighty percent of sports book customers placed a bet using a mobile device and mobile accounts for most of new activations. “Cash Out” has been extended to horse racing on the exchange and sports book in advance of Cheltenham (“Tap Tap Boom” is its new mobile focussed ad campaign). Strong cross-sell and mobile continues to benefit gaming which increased 30% to £24m in Q3. Betfair US revenues increased 25% (cc), with TVG +17% along with growth in its NJ online casino.

Q3 active users increased 35%, with sustainable actives +50% yoy and actives in other markets -11% yoy. The growth in sustainable actives of 50%, follows 51% in Q2 and 65% in Q1. This active user growth is continued evidence that its investment in technology, product and marketing is delivering and it augurs well for continued sustainable revenue growth into FY16. EBITDA margins in the quarter were 20.6%, despite 2 months of POCT (£7m) and reflect the positive operational gearing in the group’s model. Net cash at the end of January was £100m (post the £200m cash return).

This is another exceptionally strong set of numbers from Betfair. We upgrade FY15 EBITDA to £119m, from £105m previously. This is an upgrade of 13%, meaning in just over 12 months FY15 forecasts will have been increased c.46%. In terms of FY16, we are increasing our EBITDA to £108m, an upgrade of 11% (the yoy decline is a reflection of the additional POCT the group will incur). The operating leverage the group is delivering is very impressive and free cash flow generation is hugely attractive. We re-iterate our BUY recommendation and our PT increases to £19.75."

StockMarketWire.com
Betfair's FY operating profits rose 53% to £120.2m with product and marketing investment driving record customer activity. Revenue rose 21% to £476.5m (FY14: £393.6m), with double-digit growth in each of Sports, Gaming and Betfair US.

Revenue growth was driven by a 52% increase in the number of active customers to 1,715,000 (FY14: 1,129,000), supported by a 65% increase in the number of new customers acquired in the year, as well as a focus on reducing customer churn.

EBITDA rose by 32% to £120.2m (up 53% excluding UK POC tax) and the proposed full year dividend is up 70% to 34.0 pence per share.

Chief executive Breon Corcoran said: "FY15 has been an excellent year for Betfair. We are successfully executing our strategy and achieving profitable scale in sustainable markets. Our investments are working, the business now operates at pace and our people have a strong will to win. "The financial year started with the World Cup, which allowed us to engage with many new and existing customers and gain trading momentum. This carried on throughout the rest of the year, culminating in record customer numbers and betting volumes at the Cheltenham Festival and Grand National meeting. "Product is a key reason why customers join and stay with Betfair. Important product improvements, including the extension of Price Rush to each way bets and Cash Out to in-running horseracing, helped to drive a strong performance during these key racing festivals. "We continue to invest heavily in the business. This year we spent c.£28m more on marketing and customer bonuses and added more than 60 people to our product development teams. "Our 'Tap Tap Boom' advertising campaign has been effective in showing the simplicity of using Betfair, especially through our market-leading mobile apps. We are sustaining our marketing investment throughout the upcoming season, including leading slots on Sky Sports and BT Sport's football coverage. "Betfair is well positioned for further growth and we look forward to building on these results in FY16."