Recent results looked very good, should you want a gambling element in your portfolio, this looks a good bet.

Plenty of growth potential in the UK.

William Hill also came out with good numbers today, but can you see them growing in the same way as our Irish friends?

Paddy Power PLC, the bookmaker, reported a 96 pct increase in full year pretax profit as it benefited from robust growth in its core Irish business.

The group also expressed confidence about its prospects.

For the year to Dec 31 2002 Paddy Power saw pretax profit rise to 17.8 mln eur from 9.1 mln last time on turnover up 46 pct to a record 673.8 mln eur.

Operating profit increased 101 pct to 17.1 mln eur and earnings per share were up 96 pct to 31.38 cent -- both also records.

A final dividend of 6.8 cent was proposed, making 10.2 for the full year, up 100 pct, payable June 6.

The group ended the year with a cash balance of 36.4 mln eur, up 99 pct.

The gains on the previous year were flattered by a poor first half in 2001 when sporting events were cancelled due to the foot and mouth crisis.

"2002 has been a record year for Paddy Power with excellent progress achieved in our strategic objectives," said chief executive John O'Reilly.

He noted that the group saw strong growth in all channels of its core Irish business where it sees significant further opportunities for expansion. It currently trades from 129 licensed betting offices in Ireland.

In the UK, encouraged by the success of its on-line, telephone and limited betting office estate, Paddy Power accelerated its shop expansion programme in 2002.

The group enters the current year with three UK betting offices trading, three in various stages of fit-out and six further licence hearings scheduled for April and May. It said a strong pipeline is also in place for the remainder of 2003 and beyond.

Its UK telephone business established last year continues to grow rapidly with UK customers now forming a significant part of the customer base.

UK customers now account for the majority of the group's on-line customers and it continues to expect this division to break even in 2003.

"The outlook remains positive. Trading since the year end has been strong with margins well within normal trading ranges," the group said.

It expressed confidence it would continue to grow its Irish betting office business through a programme of new shop openings, relocations and extensions together with underlying organic growth.

It said the UK estate, while still in its infancy, will grow in 2003 and beyond to become a significant part of group operations.