Trading remains in line with previous full-year operating profit guidance of £260-280m
- Strong EURO 2016 football tournament generates total £36m of gross win; better than expected EUROs outturn mitigates impact of losses at Cheltenham festival
- Early progress on Online turnaround strategy with Sportsbook mobile user experience redesigned in time for EURO 2016, mobile web and apps localised for four markets
- Retail delivers 4% growth in net revenue and operating profit; 800 proprietary self-service betting terminals rolled out and modernisation of management structure underway
- Australia product launches help drive 12% turnover growth but racing results impact margin
- US grows operating profit by 49%
Investing in technology strategy
- c£90m invested in NYX with new OpenBet agreement to deliver enhanced technology platform
- £13.6m acquisition of Grand Parade brings award-winning digital development and user experience expertise in-house
Net debt for covenant purposes increased to £586.2m (29 December 2015: £488.2m), 1.7x EBITDA
£60m share buyback
Interim dividend maintained at 4.1p per share, reflecting Board's confidence that the Online business will return to stronger growth rates in the medium term
