William Hill ahead as favourites flop

BOOKIE William Hill is winning again. After a poor run of horseracing results in the first quarter of the year, the company said its gross win for the half year has picked up significantly as the number of losing favourites has increased in recent weeks.

As a result, current win levels are the same as a year ago, when it was cashing in on shock results from the Euro 2004 football championships.

The firm did not include the results from its 624 newly-acquired Stanley Leisure shops, but it is likely they also benefited. That transaction, which took the William Hill estate up to 2237 shops, is still awaiting approval from the Office of Fair Trading, which should make its ruling soon.

The takeover completed on 19 June, so results from the new shops will not show through until the second half of the year.

'Against the tough comparisons last year, this all looks pretty good,' said Investec analyst James Wheatcroft.

The group said it had also kept a lid on overheads, with the increase in operating expenses falling from 7.6% in May to 4.4% now. The shares gained 11p to 551p.