Speaking to Ladbrokes Coral Plc investors on H1 2017 performance, group CEO Jim Mullen has detailed that the FTSE gambling firm is ‘now delivering on its pre-merger promises’.
Presenting H1 2017 results, which saw Ladbrokes Coral declare group operating profits of £51 million, Mullen stated that the enlarged operator’s ambitions and scalability were ‘no longer theoretical’.
Throughout his tenure as leader of Ladbrokes Coral, Mullen has stated that he will deliver a cash effective business for its investors, driven by five principal pillars; technology, engaging marketing, best product, developing multi-channel and international growth.
To date, the CEO states that the Ladbrokes-Coral combination sees a ‘strong progress’ with its enlarged operations now seeking to deliver £150 million in group cost synergies by 2019.
Mullen praised Ladbrokes-Coral executives and strategy, detailing that the company had used its post-merger migration intelligently by not ‘only integrating assets’, but further ‘upgrading all-around company operations and technologies’.
Ladbrokes Coral now enters a crucial H2 2017 period, in which the company may face a set of new regulatory constraints placed by the UK government. Mullen will not linger on the government decision, stating that Ladbrokes Coral governance ‘has presented its case’ to UK DCMS for a fair ‘evidence based’ review with regards to FOBTS and industry advertising.
Regardless of the outcome of the DCMS industry review (expected in early October), Ladbrokes Coral will undertake ‘planned actions’ to improve the performance and profitability of its combined retail division, which recorded a KPI and metric declines during the period.
