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Nadeem
Veteran Investor
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 639
Cash Points 13955.74
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 Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:22 am Post subject: WMH - WILLIAM HILL - Discussion Thread |
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Discuss news and views on WILLIAM HILL here
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Is the bookie worth a punt?
William Hill briefly overtook its rival Ladbrokes recently as the UK’s biggest bookmaker by number of shops owned when Advertisement
it acquired 624 licensed betting outlets from Stanley Leisure.
But the group, which floated in summer 2002, soon relinquished the title when Ladbrokes bought a portfolio of Welsh betting shops to move back into the lead.
Regulatory and competition issues have made it difficult for the largest two bookmakers to add new shops to their portfolios. Indeed, Hill sold some of the shops it acquired in the Stanley deal to the Tote, the state-owned pool betting operator, to avoid regulatory objections, giving it 2,209 shops in the UK – 51 behind Ladbrokes. Hill has since been asked by the Office of Fair Trading to sell a further 50 shops.
However, regulatory constraints have failed to stop Hill increasing its revenues and profits by tapping into the British public’s love of gambling. Like other UK bookmakers, the company has installed lucrative fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), arcade-style machines that allow punters to bet on electronic games such as roulette.
It has also benefited from a significant change in betting taxation. The Treasury’s decision four years ago to switch to a gross profits tax from a tax on punters and operators has boosted returns across the industry.
Other progressive deregulation, such as increased opening hours, has also helped Hill. Compared with 10 years ago, the bookmaker offers a wider range of bets on a larger number of sports, with football bets in particular soaring in popularity.
With internet betting also rising dramatically in popularity, Hill has built a profitable online business that generated £51.7m of operating profits in the 12 months to December 28. It has achieved this without taking bets from the US, where the legality of online sports betting remains unclear.
The company’s decision to pay £504m for the Stanley betting shops saw Hill postpone plans for a £453m capital return to shareholders. This disappointed some analysts, with several saying the group had paid too high a price for a portfolio that requiredsubstantial investment. They were also disappointed with the group’s belated introduction of an electronic point of sales system (Epos), which the board admitted had held back profits.
Teather & Greenwood’s Reed is less concerned with future regulatory risk, saying the group is good value when compared with its peers. Following the Stanley Leisure acquisition, he says “you could have a combined business with earnings per share of 45.5p compared with 41.9p before the deal. That puts the shares next year on a forward multiple of 12.4.”
This is a cheaper multiple than Hill’s online gaming counterparts and could helpthe board convinceits critics that the purchase was the right move. |
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Neo
Saving Enthusiast
Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 147
Cash Points 595.04
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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I own William Hill
Bought them at 5.55 some months back and have not moved much since.. thought they looked good on a profits basis and yield but performance has been poor of late  |
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Wade
Saving Enthusiast
Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 185
Cash Points 2569.94
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:20 am Post subject: |
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| Ive just bout abnout 700 worth... hope Ive not made a mistake |
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Quinn
Saving Enthusiast
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 181
Cash Points 2817.02
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:17 am Post subject: |
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Yes, Ive noticed that this stock is a bit of a dog of late.
I think it has a lot to do with this stock likely to go out of the FTSE100
I.e. tracker funds are dumping WHM |
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fireboy
Saving Enthusiast
Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 134
Cash Points 459.94
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:36 am Post subject: |
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Seems to have recovered well from a collapse late last year to about 5.
The gambling sector is and will continue to be quite volatile, with lots of new online casinos around, takeover and merger talk in the wind etc.
2006 is a strong betting year. A high proportion of punters betting on the Football World Cup for example will let their hearts rule their heads and back England!
I expect WMH to have a good year and I am therefore holding my shares in WMH. |
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Quinn
Saving Enthusiast
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 181
Cash Points 2817.02
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:54 am Post subject: |
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| Its back up now, should have bought at 5.20 when I had the chance.. oh well live and learn I guess. |
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| Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Heres the results of one of my fav stocks... even if it is underperforming at the moment 
William Hill (the 'Group') today announces its results for the 52 weeks ended 27
December 2005 (the 'period').
Period highlights:
Profit on ordinary activities before exceptional items and finance
charges up 5% to 246.0m (2004: 234.1m)
Adjusted basic earnings per share (before exceptional items) were 36.2
pence (2004: 36.5 pence). Basic earnings per share were 28.5 pence (2004:
36.5 pence)
Interim dividend of 6.1 pence per share (paid on 5 December 2005) and
proposed final dividend of 12.2 pence per share (payable on 6 June 2006 to
shareholders on the register on 5 May 2006) giving a total dividend up 11%
to 18.3 pence per share (2004: 16.5 pence per share)
Integration of the Stanley Retail business into the existing William
Hill estate will be complete by the end of the first quarter 2006.
Annualised synergies and other benefits will exceed initial estimate of
13m and could exceed 20m over the medium term.
Total returned to shareholders since flotation in June 2002 amounts to
446.0m (including dividends and share buy backs). 78.3m of shares
purchased in 2005 out of proposed buy back programme of 200-300m announced
in September 2005. Intention to renew mandate for a 10% share buy back.
Successful installation of replacement text and EPOS systems in the
William Hill LBOs
Current trading:
Trading in the first eight weeks of 2006 has been mixed, with some strong weeks,
aided by more favourable football results and some poor weeks, particularly for
horseracing which has been impacted by both unfavourable results and fixture
cancellations. Online gaming continues to grow strongly. Costs remain under
tight control.
After this relatively short trading period, and with the World Cup and the full
year benefits of both the Stanley acquisition and EPOS rollout still to come,
the Board remains confident in the prospects for the Group.
Commenting on these results, Charles Scott, Chairman, said:
'In 2005, our third full year as a public company, we took a number of key
strategic steps, including the acquisition of Stanley Leisure plc's betting
shops and the investment in EPOS and new text systems in our LBOs. Earnings per
share excluding exceptional items fell slightly but as a sign of the Board's
confidence for the future, we are proposing to increase total dividends by 11%.' |
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