Paddy Power Betfair PLC (LON:PPB) has always had the capacity to surprise, but Tuesday’s interims may prove anti-climactic.
That’s because the company gave a sneak preview of the figures on Monday when it surprised the market with news of a change at the top.
Non-executive director Peter Jackson is to be the new chief executive officer, replacing Breon Corcoran, who is cashing in his chips after 16 years with the bookie.
Betfair will confirm it has been trading in line with expectations, with year-on-year revenue growth of 9% and underlying earnings (EBITDA) growth of 21%.
The group said it expects full-year underlying EBITDA to fall somewhere between £445mln and £465mln.
If it follows the examples of sector peers William Hill PLC (LON:WMH) and Ladbrokes Coral PLC (LON:LCL), it will grumble in its interims about unhelpful sporting results.
It also has the excuse of there being no major football tournament this summer to part punters from their money.
Nevertheless, investors will have been perturbed by its report in May that overall gross win margins had been weak in April, and will be hopeful this trend was reversed in May and June.
The City will also be looking for further progress on the integration of the Paddy Power and Betfair technology platforms, which has been a key focus since the merger of the two. Corcoran’s departure suggest this integration might be proving to be more of a chore than anticipated.
Checking in at Intercontinental Hotels
On the subject of new bosses, half-year results from Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG) will be the first set of figures for new chief executive officer Keith Barr, though he won’t be able to take much credit as the previous guy, Richard Solomons, who only quit at the end of June.
As always in the hotel trade, the key metric will be revenue per available room (RevPAR).
This was up 2.7% in the first quarter, which was slightly below Barclays Capital’s forecast of 2.9%. The second quarter RevPAR may compare unfavourably to the growth rate from a year ago because of the timing of Easter.
Deutsche Bank is forecasting half-year revenue growth of 3.7% to US$869mln, and revPAR growth of 2.1%, representing a slow-down from the first quarter, partly because of the earlier Easter this year but also because of lower growth in Germany and France.
It is tipping earnings before interest and tax of US$362mln.
Significant announcements expected
Trading updates: Bellway PLC (LON:BWY), Pets at Home Group PLC (LON:PETS)
Interims: Henderson Group PLC (Q2) (LON:HGG), Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG), IWG PLC (Q2) (LON:IWG), Morgan Sindall Group PLC (LON:MGNS), Mereo BioPharma Group PLC (LON:MPH), Mporium Group PLC (LON:MPM), Paysafe PLC (LON:PAYS), Polypipe Group PLC (LON:PLP), Paddy Power Betfair plc (LON:PPB), Quarto Group PLC (LON:QRT), Rotork PLC (LON:ROR), SIG PLC (LON:SHI), Standard Life PLC (LON:SL.), TP ICAP PLC (LON:TCAP), T Clarke PLC (LOON:CTO), Verona Pharma PLC (LON:VRP), Worldpay PLC (LON:WPG), Zotefoams PLC (LON:ZTF)
Finals: Hargreaves Services PLC (LON:HSP)