The Cheltenham festival was kind to the bookies this year, boosting the first quarter performance of Paddy Power Betfair plc (LON:PPB).
The bookies are never happy, however, and the bets taker grumbled that since Cheltenham the punters' favourites have done well in the Grand National steeplechase, the Premier League football and the US Masters golf tournament, which meant overall gross win margins were weak in April.
Revenue in the first three months of 2017 was up 23% from a year earlier, or 15% on a constant currency (cc) basis, to £416mln.
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The growth was driven by sports betting, with stakes on the sports-book up 18% (cc: +9%) year-on-year.
The high street outlets had a good quarter, with revenue up 23% (cc: +18%) to £82mln from the year before.
Online revenue rose 15% (cc: +12%) to £224mln, while the Aussie operations saw revenues rise 21% in local currency.
Underlying earnings, or EBITDA, were up 87% to £111mln.
Underlying profit more than doubled, rising 114% (cc: +117%) to £91mln.
“A key strategic focus for 2017 is the integration of our technology platforms. This project is on track and we expect both our European brands to be operating on a common platform by the end of the year, at which point customers will start to benefit from increased pace of new product delivery," said Breon Corcoran, chief executive of Paddy Power.
Shares in the company fell 1% to 8,685p on the results.