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William Hill is all geared for remodelling its retail business in 2019, after it lowered its full-year 2018 adjusted operating by about 15 per cent lower compared to the previous year.

The company had reduced its profit forecast in November due to increasingly stringent regulations, particularly on lucrative fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), and warned of more losses in the United States.

It said its US business had broadly broken even in the year.

European gambling companies have been looking to expand across the Atlantic in light of regulatory curbs in Britain and as US states ease curbs on betting.

William Hill said 2018 adjusted operating profit from continuing operations would be 234 million pounds, slightly higher than company-supplied analyst estimates of 232.2 million pounds.

Profit was lower in its retail business due to tough high-street conditions and the offering would be remodelled in 2019 as Chief Executive Officer Philip Bowcock looks to make the firm a “digitally-led international business,” the company said.

The company had said in November that it would look at new products to offer alternatives to FOBTs.

“With rapid expansion underway in the U.S. … and the acquisition of Mr Green nearing completion, we look forward to making further progress this year,” Bowcock said in a statement.

William Hill has earmarked about 120–130 million pounds for 2019 to fund its US expansion.

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: William Hill lowers profit forecast

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GVC Holdings, the multinational sports-betting and gaming group based in Isle of Man, has been admitted to the FTSE4Good Index Series following the FTSE4Good’s annual review in December 2018.

The FTSE4Good Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. Transparent management and clearly-defined ESG criteria make FTSE4Good indexes suitable tools to be used by a wide variety of market participants when creating or assessing sustainable investment products.

GVC was admitted to the index after an independent scrutiny of its practices and public documents against a series of criteria including:

• Governance (including risk management, corporate governance and anti-corruption)
• Social practices (including human rights, labour standards and health & safety)
• Environmental commitments (including energy usage and waste management)

Kenneth Alexander, GVC CEO commented:

“We are proud to join FTSE4Good and be recognised as a leader in corporate social responsibility, which is at the core everything we do as a business. Acting responsibly and maintaining strong governance is not a luxury but fundamental to our long-term success and a key driver of shareholder value.”

About GVC:
GVC Holdings PLC is one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating both online and in the retail sector. The Group owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands; Sports Brands include bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes and Sportingbet; Gaming Brands include CasinoClub, Foxy Bingo, Gala, Gioco Digitale, partypoker and PartyCasino. The Group owns proprietary technology across all of its core product verticals and in addition to its B2C operations provides services to a number of third-party customers on a B2B basis. GVC acquired Ladbrokes Coral Group plc on 28 March 2018 and is now the UK’s largest high street bookmaker, with over 3,500 betting shops. The Group, incorporated in the Isle of Man, is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index and has licences in more than 20 countries, across five continents.

For more information see the Group’s website: www.gvc-plc.com

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: FTSE4Good Index admits GVC Holdings

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Brokerage Sanford C Bernstein has upgraded the ratings of Macau casinos Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China. This was done after a re-evaluation of the companies and also considering the capacity expansion in 2020.

According to Bernstein analysts, Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu, even as GGR is expected to decrease from 14 per cent (2018) to 3 per cent this year, there is a positive future for Galaxy and Sands in 2019. They clarified: “On a longer-term fundamental view, Galaxy now looks relatively inexpensive, especially factoring in Phase 3 and 4 developments of Galaxy Macau.” 

They added: “Galaxy continues to improve its Mass operations at Galaxy Macau and StarWorld while maintaining a leadership position in VIP. While the VIP segment is most at risk of considerable slowdown over the next 6 to 12 months, over the medium term, the key value driver is operating leverage improvement and improving business mix which will enhance margins.”

Furthermore, they explained that Galaxy “stands to have outsized growth over the long run” as it completes Galaxy Macau Phases 3 and 4.

“We continue to look favorably upon Sands China’s management team, product positioning and strategy focused on Mass market, a strong balance sheet and hefty dividends,” Bernstein analysts said about Sands China and added: “Redevelopment of Sands Cotai Central and upgrades at the Parisian will help boost its high margin Premium Mass business. The long-term (beginning in 2020) growth story from hotel suite capacity expansion and the Londoner redevelopment is evident. Sands China’s valuation look attractive for a stock that consistently trades at a premium to Macau gaming stocks and is now trading well below its historical average.”

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: Macau’s casino companies receive rating upgrade