William Hill posts us$ 462 million profit

The gaming company showed an increase in pre-tax profit to us$ 574 million and a 15 per cent win in gross win to us$ 1.8 billion for the year.

The report said that Hill’s strong profit performance had been boosted by the benefits from its acquisition of Stanley Leisure’s retail bookmaking estate last year, which was completed in June 2005. It added that operating expenses “continue to be kept under tight control”, and that the board remained comfortable with consensus expectations.

The board also said that plans were “well developed” to exploit opportunities in Spain and Italy in conjunction with its partner, Codere.