Operational highlights
Excellent progress made in the delivery of our turnaround plan:
- Sustainable revenues up to 75% of total revenue³, from 67% in Q4 FY12;
- Sportsbook successfully launched, helping to drive a 65% increase in UK customer acquisition;
- Introduction of Exchange-based features (e.g. Cash Out) to the Sportsbook providing a differentiated product;
- Increased cost savings of c.£30m to be realised in FY14; and
- New management team in place and cultural change underway.
Financial highlights
Revenue and EBITDA ahead of previous guidance;
Revenue of £387.0m (FY12: £388.5m):
- Sustainable revenue up 6%;
- Other revenue down 15% due to market exits;
Total underlying EBITDA of £73.3m (FY12: £86.0m) driven by lower capitalisation of development spend and regulatory impact, offset by growth in sustainable jurisdictions;
Betfair US achieved positive underlying EBITDA for first time;
Strong underlying free cash flow generation of £50.2m (FY12:£43.8m); and
Final dividend of 9.0 pence proposed; full year dividend up 27% to 13.0 pence.
Commenting on today's announcement, Breon Corcoran, Betfair's Chief Executive Officer, said:
"This is a solid set of results in what has been a year of transition for Betfair. Revenues lost as a result of changing regulation have been largely replaced with regulated, more sustainable revenues.
"Following the outline of our new strategic plan at our half year results in December, the business has undergone significant change and much progress has been made in a short time. A new management team is leading the business, a wide ranging restructuring has been completed ahead of schedule, marketing investment has been focused on core markets and we have successfully launched a Sportsbook.
"While the Exchange continues to be at the heart of our business, the Sportsbook means we can now present new customers with a simpler, more familiar product and offer a wider range of promotional activity than is possible on the Exchange alone. This is helping Betfair to attract more new customers than ever before.
"The recent introduction of Cash Out on the Sportsbook is the first of many ways we intend to use Exchange features to offer a differentiated customer experience and strengthen our competitive advantage.
"Although it remains early days for many of these initiatives, we remain pleased with the operational trends we are seeing, which give us confidence that the steps we are taking will deliver a higher quality, sustainable and growing business."
"We have made excellent progress on all of our key strategic aims and the business is in a far stronger position to generate future growth than it was at the start of the year.
