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

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."