Shares in Paddy Power Betfair plc (LON:PPB) were quick out of the traps on Wednesday morning after the bookie raised its full-year earnings guidance.
The company said in its third quarter trading update that full year underlying earnings, or EBITDA, are now expected to be between £450mln and £465mln, which represents an uplift of £5mln at the bottom end of the range.
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Revenue in the third quarter rose 9%, or 8% on a constant currency (CC) basis, to £440mln from £404mln the year before.
Underlying EBITA rose 7% (9% on a CC basis) to £121mln from £113mln last year.
Barclays had forecast underlying EBTIDA of £116mln on revenue of £423mln.
"Q3 was an encouraging quarter for Paddy Power Betfair, with good stakes growth despite the absence of a major football tournament,” said Breon Corcoran, who is due to step down as chief executive in the new year.
“Our international businesses performed particularly well. In Australia, the winning combination of innovative product and marketing excellence continued to deliver exceptional results, with revenue up 29%2, while US revenue was up 18%.
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“Paddy Power Retail also continues to outperform the market through its sports-led proposition and is well positioned to respond to regulatory changes,” he added.
Since Paddy Power acquired Betfair, the integration of the technology platforms has occupied a lot of management time but is nearing completion, and in 2018 customers will start to benefit from an increased pace of new product delivery, Corcoran promised.
Corcoran made no mention of yesterday's preliminary recommendations from The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on fixed odds betting terminals, other than to say “the industry remains highly competitive and is exposed to regulatory risks”.
Shares in the bookie were up 4% at 8,010p in the first half-hour of trading.