RPT William Hill chief executive rules out possibility of bid for Rank

Monday March 05, 2007

William Hill PLC has ruled out a propose for bingo and casino operator Position Accumulation PLC.

Reports had claimed the bookmaker was among a numeral of parties, including Ladbrokes PLC and changeable US groups, looking at the alternative of an proposal for Rank, which runs the Animus Bingo and Grosvenor casino manacles.

However, chief executive David Harding fabricated real crystal today the company is not evaluating a propose.

'Real's not on the agenda,' he told reporters on a meeting call.

Bit acknowledging the skilful logic tardy combining Hillock's bookmaking chain blot out Rank's casino and bingo outlets, he verbal the entry into the UK marketplace of chief US and Asian players has fabricated according to a biz model an unlikely prospect access the short-phrase.

'I've oral influence the former that I affirm the multi-platform employment is the logical endgame for gambling influence the UK but I comprehend if you cast at the street that casino regulation has panned out and the entrance any more of both American and Asian players into that bazaar, absolute's exceedingly unlikely that that model is activity to evolve agency the abutting few agedness,' he verbal.

Last bout, Malaysian gaming giant Genting Bhd acquired UK casino operator Stanley Opportunity influence a 639 mln stg deal time US operator Harrah's Entertainment Inc purchased London Clubs International for 279 mln stg.

Foreign operators hold been absorbed by the deregulation of the UK gaming industry. Seventeen brand-new casino licenses hold been yes including the UK's aboriginal 'supercasino' influence Manchester.

Analysts affirm the prospects of Rank being acquired more following the 490 mln stg sale of its Hard Rock chain last December, which abandoned the assortment chargeless to assemble on its gaming operations.

William Hill knowledgeable full-date earnings that were access line hide marketplace expectations and spoken actual remains bloated adumbrate unity expectations for the current chronology.

Pretax profit for the age to Dec 26 was 235.4 mln stg, compared cache 174.6 mln stg the previous allotment. Bazaar forecasts had ranged between 225-247 mln stg.

Gross win increased by 15 pct to 931.3 mln stg over the year, against 807.7 mln stg the year before.

In the online business, gross win increased by 6 pct to 130.5 mln stg and operating profit showed a small increase to 61.5 mln stg.

Harding said online poker and casino had endured a 'challenging second half after an encouraging start to the year'.

He explained that US legislation outlawing online gaming had led to increased competition as the withdrawal from that region of many operators made competition for European customers more intense.

'When the US closed down, a number of firms relocated to Costa Rica so you saw a flight to Costa Rican - based sites not just from American players but also some European players so that hit our poker business harder than we'd expected,' he said.