Ladbrokes highlights digital growth as revenue jumps in Q1

Ladbrokes has cited growth within its digital business as one of the main reasons behind a year-on-year increase in revenue during the three months to March 31.

Group net revenue in the first quarter expanded by 10.6% compared to the same three-month period last year, with this figure significantly boosted by a 36.5% year-on-year hike in digital net revenue.

UK retail net revenue increased 4.1% year-on-year, despite a slight drop in OTC stakes, while European retail net revenue was also up 6.5%.

The bookmaker also saw a 38.4% increase in revenue from Ladbrokes.com plus Exchanges, while sportsbook and gaming revenue increased by 59% and 27.3%, respectively.

In addition, revenue from the company’s Ladbrokes Australia business jumped 38.4% year-on-year.

Jim Mullen, chief executive of Ladbrokes, said “Since July 2015 we have been successfully implementing our strategic plan and the encouraging customer metrics we saw at the end of the year have continued during the first quarter of 2016.

“Our focus remains on best-in-class customer service, superior quality of product and maximising the multi-channel potential of our business.

“We continue to be pleased by the reaction to our increased marketing, our products and multi-channel proposition.

“We have enjoyed record weeks across key metrics including actives and staking in digital, SSBTs and multi-channel sign-ups in retail.

“We will continue to deliver the strategy I laid out last summer to engage the recreational customer and reinforce our status as the nation's favourite bookmaker.

“We are currently a little ahead of our plans on key customer metrics and benefited from favourable results up until Cheltenham; however, experience tells us to expect results to normalise over time.

“We remain confident to deliver a result in line with our expectation.”

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