A second interim dividend of 17.6p per share has been declared, an increase of 10% on the prior year in line with the Group's current dividend policy of double digit dividend growth.
Other financial highlights include:
Proforma Group NGR up 2% (+3% on a constant currency (cc) basis) at £3,655.1m, driven by the strong performance in Online, European Retail and UK Retail OTC
Proforma Group Revenue up 2% (+3% cc) at £3,600.5m, over 96% of which was from markets that were either regulated or in the process of regulating
Proforma Group underlying EBITDA5 down 10% at £678.3m
£50m ahead of consensus at the start of the year
Up 14% ahead after adjusting for the estimated impact of the Triennial Review and incremental taxes
Online underlying EBITDA5 was 20% ahead after adjusting for the estimated impact of incremental taxes
UK Retail underlying EBITDA5 was 5% ahead after adjusting for the estimated impact of the Triennial Review
Proforma Group underlying operating profit was 20% lower than 2018 at £490.1m
Excluding net debt arising on IFRS 16 of £347.1m, adjusted net debt at 31 December 2019 was £1,822.7m 2.7x LTM underlying EBITDA pre IFRS 16 (2018: £1,896.6m)
