Ladbrokes Coral remains on track for rise in profits

Betting giant Ladbrokes Coral has defied the "sporting gods" to remain on track for a rise in profits despite a "savage" December for horseracing and football results.

The group – created from the £2.3 billion (€2.8bn) merger of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral in October – saw surging online revenues help it overcome a tough end to 2016 for sporting results when a number of favourites came out on top.

Ladbrokes said it suffered its worst week of the year for football last month with nine of the 11 domestic favourites winning over two days and all four of the top Premier League teams winning on December 26th.

In horseracing, the two feature races at Kempton Park on December 26th were won by the favourites, with further wins by favourites in Ireland and Wales.

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Shares rose 3 per cent as the group said it was on course for full-year operating profits of between £275 million (€317m)and £285 million (€328m) for the combined group.