Member Article

Betfred Group results gallop ahead

The North West based Betfred Group has reported a £13.3billion turnover for the period from March 2013 to September 2014.

The company’s gross profit was £593 million, up from £362 million for the previous 18 months.

It operates Betfred, Totepool and Totesport.com. Turnover for the online division, Betfred.com, was £1.9billion for the most recent period.

The company was founded by brothers Fred and Peter Done in 1967, starting off with a single betting shop in Salford.

The group, which now employs more than 10,000 people, operates just under 1,400 licensed betting offices, pool betting on 58 racecourses, together with telephone and internet operations. Its headquarters are in Birchwood, Warrington.

Group chief executive John Haddock said: “Although we have faced increased taxation, regulation and a very competitive market place we are delighted to report a positive set of results.

“We are pleased to continue our support for racing and once again we have over delivered on our promise to the government when we acquired the Tote and delivered £19.1million in direct contributions.

“This together with our levy payments equates to a total payment to racing of £37.7million in the 18 month period and we are proud to continue to be one of racing’s biggest sponsors.

“Our estate of just under 1,400 betting shops continues to perform well and there’s been major improvement in our online and mobile offerings.

“Totepool continues to grow and in this period we had a record breaking Scoop6.

“We have a clear message across the Betfred Group to all our customers to keep gambling fun and gamble responsibly.”

The group also said net debt has reduced by £68million to £145million.

Betfred acquired the Tote in July 2011 for £265 million and the company was awarded an exclusive seven year licence to operate pools betting on UK racecourses.

Petfre, which the group acquired in 2014, operates the Betfred brand online and on mobile.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .