Boylesports look a safebet as profits quadruple

Expansion and a run of bad luck for punters drove a quadrupling of profits at bookmaking chain Boylesports in its last financial year.

The company said yesterday that turnover in the 12 months ended June 30th jumped 25 per cent to €629.3 million, from €501.7 million last year.

Operating profits for the year increased by 300 per cent to €15.6 million from €3.9 million, a record performance for the group.

Chief executive Daniel O'Mahony said yesterday that a run of losing favourites and winning long shots at big race meetings such as Cheltenham and Aintree, including Silver Birch's 33/1 victory in the Grand National, helped boost its results.

Mr O'Mahony said the company's gross win margin, that is the difference between the amount staked by customers and that collected by them in winnings, grew during the financial year to 11.3 per cent from 10.1 per cent in 2005.

This means that for every €1 that punters staked with Boylesports this year they got an average return of 88.7 cent, and lost 11.3 cent, while in 2005, their return was 89.9 cent for every €1 staked.

However, Mr O'Mahony, said that much of the growth in turnover and profitability was down to expansion.

The group opened its 100th shop in Capel Street, Dublin, in the first quarter of the financial year. That number has since risen to 115.

He added that there was also strong revenue growth across its on-line and telephone betting channels. Boylesports does not strip out separate figures for these operations.

However, he did say that more than half its online account holders were based in the UK, a market in which the company has been attempting to build a presence for some time.

During the period it added a mobile offering and a number of other products.

It also took on two new sponsorships, the Boylesports International meeting at Cheltenham in December and its partnership with soccer club Sunderland, which was promoted to the English Premiership and is managed by Roy Keane.

The chain's managing director, John Boyle, founded the group in 1989 with a single shop in Armagh. It is now headquartered in Dundalk, Co Louth, and employs 750 people.