The Inland Revenue are showing an interest in the recently announced re-branding of gambling giant Paddy Power Betfair. For over a year, the company’s chief executive Peter Jackson as hoped that their disappointing performance, executive exist issues, and share sell-offs that followed the merger in 2016 will finally wane.
On Wednesday, he was finally able to report the slightly better-than-expected figures for the full year as well. The Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) figures for the company were recorded at 475 million pounds, about 6 million times higher than the market estimates. The brand finally tried to regain “its mojo” according to Jackson in 2018. The company is operating in more than 100 markets across the globe, marking a 4 percent increase.
However, the overall gaming industry is going through rough times and Paddy Power’s new brand name- Flutter Entertainment Plc couldn’t have come at a more unfortunate time. The industry is going through an image problem.
However, the company has bigger things to look forward to. It announced a new deal in the US, just a week after the US Supreme Court hit down a federal law that prohibited sports betting in May last year. The deal delivered a 35% share of the New Jersey online betting market by the end of 2018. The US market has a potential for the company especially since more states are allowing sports betting within their jurisdictions and punters have a chance to move from illegal betting circles to regulated betting sites. Jackson also talked about the American market with the analysts during a recent presentation.
The company’s investors seem a little wary of the US expansion, especially the cost of this activity. The company’s stock has gone down by 11 percent in the last three days alone. The last time the markets reacted to the company this way was when Paddy Power announced a merger with Betfair.
Jackson said that the company is becoming more global and it’s stable of brands is also growing which makes the rebrand “imperative” for the company. The name wasn’t pulled out of the air either. Flutter was a brand acquired by Betfair back in 2001 and Jackson said that it didn’t cost them anything with the branding consultants.
